Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-68398

Path Traversal in Weblate ≤ 5.15.1

Published
18 December 2025
Modified
06 February 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0051 41th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-68398 is a critical-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Weblate Weblate. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 41th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-68398 affects Weblate, a web-based localization tool, in versions prior to 5.15.1. The vulnerability enables remote overwriting of Git configuration, allowing attackers to override some of Git's behavior. It is associated with CWEs including CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-22 (Path Traversal), and CWE-434 (Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type), and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.1 (Critical), reflecting network accessibility, low attack complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction, changed scope, and high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

An attacker with high privileges (PR:H) can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity and no user interaction. Successful exploitation allows overwriting Git configuration remotely, potentially overriding Git's behavior to achieve high-impact effects on confidentiality, integrity, and availability across the changed scope, such as unauthorized access, modification, or disruption of localization repositories and related systems.

Mitigation is provided in Weblate version 5.15.1, which fixes the issue. Relevant GitHub references include commits 4837a4154390f7c1d03c0e398aa6439dcfa361b4 and dd8c9d7b00eebe28770fa0e2cd96126791765ea7, pull requests 17330 and 17345, and the release page for Weblate 5.15.1.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Weblate is a web based localization tool. In versions prior to 5.15.1, it was possible to overwrite Git configuration remotely and override some of its behavior. Version 5.15.1 fixes the issue.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1505 Server Software Component Persistence
Adversaries may abuse legitimate extensible development features of servers to establish persistent access to systems.
T1505.003 Web Shell Persistence
Adversaries may backdoor web servers with web shells to establish persistent access to systems.
T1036.001 Invalid Code Signature Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to mimic features of valid code signatures to increase the chance of deceiving a user, analyst, or tool.
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-40256Same product: Weblate Weblate
CVE-2026-33220Same product: Weblate Weblate
CVE-2025-68279Same product: Weblate Weblate
CVE-2026-34242Same product: Weblate Weblate
CVE-2026-23535Same vendor: Weblate
CVE-2020-3239Shared CWE-20, CWE-22
CVE-2020-3247Shared CWE-20, CWE-22
CVE-2024-31965Shared CWE-20, CWE-22
CVE-2025-58173Shared CWE-20, CWE-22
CVE-2026-49982Shared CWE-20, CWE-22

Affected Assets

weblate
weblate
≤ 5.15.1

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2
  • V5.1.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing input validation through analysis or test cases.

SI-10 directly requires validity checks on information inputs, structurally preventing improper or missing validation.

Malicious-code protection at entry points blocks dangerous file types from being accepted and executed.

Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.

Least functionality restricts the file types and automatic processing capabilities the system will accept.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-05 mostly match
prevents

Restricting execution of unauthorized software directly blocks dangerous uploaded files from running.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require and enforce input validation during development.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can enforce allowed file types and processing rules.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Testing against a defined set of requirements and using code review plus vulnerability scanning forces validation of inputs and handling of unanticipated conditions, reducing the chance that malformed data will be accepted.

prevents

Secure-coding guidelines and mandatory security testing (including code scans) compel developers to validate and sanitize inputs at design and implementation time, lowering the incidence of malformed or malicious data reaching downstream components.

prevents

Mandating input controls that include integrity checks and input validation ensures that untrusted data is examined before use, blocking the root cause of many injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

prevents

Security-by-design principles explicitly call for data validation and sanitization at every layer, reducing the chance that malformed or malicious input will be processed without scrutiny.

prevents

Requiring language-specific secure coding standards, peer review, SAST and documented mitigation of common programming errors forces validation of all inputs before they are trusted.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230265 RHEL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components of local packages without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-20

References