flawopen.com/path-traversal/Csharp
How Path.Combine discards root paths in C#, and how to verify boundaries using Path.GetFullPath and StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase.
Imagina un escáner de llaves de hotel programado para abrir únicamente habitaciones del segundo piso. Si un huésped escribe '../../master-safe' en el teclado de la puerta, la cerradura vulnerable sube por el pasillo y abre la caja fuerte principal del gerente.
Web Application SecurityCWE-918.CWE-918Defense-in-DepthUn endpoint acepta un nombre de archivo o identificador de recurso provisto por el usuario vía parámetro HTTP.
El atacante inyecta secuencias relativas como '../', '..%2f' o rutas absolutas en el nombre del archivo.
El backend concatena el archivo al directorio base sin resolver rutas canónicas ni validar límites seguros.
El servidor lee y transmite archivos confidenciales del sistema (/etc/passwd, claves de entorno) al atacante.
// VULNERABLE: Path.Combine discards baseFolder if userInput has a leading slash
using System.IO;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
[ApiController]
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class FileController : ControllerBase {
private readonly string _baseFolder = @"C:\App\Storage\Uploads";
[HttpGet("download")]
public IActionResult Download([FromQuery] string file) {
// If file is "\Windows\System32\cmd.exe", basePath is discarded!
// If file is "..\..\App.config", it breaks out of the folder
string targetPath = Path.Combine(_baseFolder, file);
if (!System.IO.File.Exists(targetPath)) return NotFound();
return PhysicalFile(targetPath, "application/octet-stream");
}
}
// HARDENED: Canonicalize path and assert directory prefix containment
using System;
using System.IO;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
[ApiController]
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class FileController : ControllerBase {
private readonly string _baseFolder;
public FileController() {
_baseFolder = Path.GetFullPath(@"C:\App\Storage\Uploads");
}
[HttpGet("download")]
public IActionResult Download([FromQuery] string file) {
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(file)) return BadRequest("Invalid filename");
// 1. Strip leading slashes to prevent Path.Combine root discard
string cleanName = file.TrimStart(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar, Path.AltDirectorySeparatorChar);
// 2. Resolve canonical full path
string fullPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(_baseFolder, cleanName));
// 3. Strict boundary containment check with DirectorySeparatorChar
string safePrefix = _baseFolder.TrimEnd(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar) + Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;
if (!fullPath.StartsWith(safePrefix, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) {
return Forbid("Path traversal attempt detected");
}
if (!System.IO.File.Exists(fullPath)) return NotFound();
return PhysicalFile(fullPath, "application/octet-stream");
}
}
Path.Combine().Path.GetFullPath() to resolve traversal dots.