CVE-2025-24889
SecureDrop Qubes Path Traversal Vulnerability
Description
The SecureDrop Client is a desktop application for journalists to communicate with sources and work with submissions on the SecureDrop Workstation. Prior to versions 0.14.1 and 1.0.1, an attacker who has already gained code execution in a virtual machine on the SecureDrop Workstation could gain code execution in the `sd-log` virtual machine by sending a specially crafted log entry. The vulnerability is not exploitable remotely and requires an attacker to already have code execution on one of the other virtual machines (VMs) of the system. Due to the Workstation's underlying usage of Qubes for strong isolation, the vulnerability would have allowed lateral movement between any log-enabled VM and the `sd-log` VM, but no further. The SecureDrop workstation collects logs centrally in an isolated virtual machine named `sd-log` for easy export for support and debugging purposes. The `sd-log` VM is completely isolated from the internet and ingests logs via a narrow Qubes RPC policy that allows for specific inter-VM communication via the Xen vchan protocol used by Qubes's qrexec mechanism. A path traversal bug was found in the logic used to choose where to write the log file for a specific VM: the VM name, used unsanitized in the destination path in `sd-log`, is supplied by the logging VM itself instead of being read from a trusted source, such as the Qubes environment variable `QREXEC_REMOTE_DOMAIN` that is used in the fixed implementation. An attacker could provide an arbitrary source VM name, possibly overwriting logs of other VMs, or writing a file named `syslog.log`, with attacker-controlled content, in arbitrary directories as a low-privileged user. A successful attack could potentially overwrite or add configuration to software that loads configuration files from a directory. This is exploitable to achieve code execution by setting the target directory to `/home/user/.config/autostart/` and letting it write `syslog.log`, because XFCE treats any file in that directory as a `.desktop` file regardless of its extension. Versions 0.14.1 and 1.0.1 contain a patch for this issue.
INFO
Published Date :
Feb. 13, 2025, 6:18 p.m.
Last Modified :
Feb. 13, 2025, 6:18 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
[email protected]
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2025-24889
vulnerability.
Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the
products
that
are
affected, the information is not represented in the table below.
No affected product recoded yet
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | [email protected] |
Solution
- Update SecureDrop Client to version 0.14.1 or later.
- Update SecureDrop Client to version 1.0.1 or later.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2025-24889.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-24889 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-24889
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2025-24889 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2025-24889 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Feb. 13, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description The SecureDrop Client is a desktop application for journalists to communicate with sources and work with submissions on the SecureDrop Workstation. Prior to versions 0.14.1 and 1.0.1, an attacker who has already gained code execution in a virtual machine on the SecureDrop Workstation could gain code execution in the `sd-log` virtual machine by sending a specially crafted log entry. The vulnerability is not exploitable remotely and requires an attacker to already have code execution on one of the other virtual machines (VMs) of the system. Due to the Workstation's underlying usage of Qubes for strong isolation, the vulnerability would have allowed lateral movement between any log-enabled VM and the `sd-log` VM, but no further. The SecureDrop workstation collects logs centrally in an isolated virtual machine named `sd-log` for easy export for support and debugging purposes. The `sd-log` VM is completely isolated from the internet and ingests logs via a narrow Qubes RPC policy that allows for specific inter-VM communication via the Xen vchan protocol used by Qubes's qrexec mechanism. A path traversal bug was found in the logic used to choose where to write the log file for a specific VM: the VM name, used unsanitized in the destination path in `sd-log`, is supplied by the logging VM itself instead of being read from a trusted source, such as the Qubes environment variable `QREXEC_REMOTE_DOMAIN` that is used in the fixed implementation. An attacker could provide an arbitrary source VM name, possibly overwriting logs of other VMs, or writing a file named `syslog.log`, with attacker-controlled content, in arbitrary directories as a low-privileged user. A successful attack could potentially overwrite or add configuration to software that loads configuration files from a directory. This is exploitable to achieve code execution by setting the target directory to `/home/user/.config/autostart/` and letting it write `syslog.log`, because XFCE treats any file in that directory as a `.desktop` file regardless of its extension. Versions 0.14.1 and 1.0.1 contain a patch for this issue. Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Added CWE CWE-22 Added Reference https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop-client/commit/3012bf7289389b5ec0f5f4db0f009a17dee1f586 Added Reference https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop-client/security/advisories/GHSA-933q-fx9h-5g46