CVE-2024-48766 in NetAlertX
Summary
by MITRE • 05/13/2025
NetAlertX 24.7.18 before 24.10.12 allows unauthenticated file reading because an HTTP client can ignore a redirect, and because of factors related to strpos and directory traversal. This is related to components/logs.php.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/23/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-48766 affects NetAlertX versions prior to 24.10.12 and represents a critical security flaw that enables unauthenticated file reading through improper HTTP redirect handling and directory traversal mechanisms. This vulnerability specifically impacts the components/logs.php file within the application's architecture, creating a significant exposure that could allow attackers to access sensitive system files and data without requiring authentication credentials. The flaw stems from the application's inability to properly validate HTTP redirect responses and its reliance on potentially insecure string matching functions that fail to adequately sanitize user input.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves multiple interconnected weaknesses that compound the security risk. The HTTP client component within NetAlertX fails to properly enforce redirect restrictions, allowing malicious actors to bypass intended access controls by manipulating HTTP response handling. Additionally, the application employs strpos functions in a manner that does not adequately validate or sanitize input parameters, creating opportunities for directory traversal attacks. This combination of factors enables attackers to craft malicious requests that can navigate through the file system and retrieve arbitrary files from the server, potentially exposing sensitive configuration data, log files, and other system information that should remain protected.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it provides attackers with the capability to access potentially sensitive system components and data. An unauthenticated attacker could leverage this flaw to gather information about the system's configuration, access log files that may contain sensitive operational data, and potentially identify other vulnerabilities within the application or underlying infrastructure. The vulnerability's presence in components/logs.php suggests that attackers could access detailed system logs that might contain user credentials, system configurations, or other sensitive operational information that could be used for further exploitation or lateral movement within the network environment.
Security practitioners should consider this vulnerability in relation to established frameworks such as CWE-22 for directory traversal and CWE-346 for improper validation of HTTP redirects. The attack pattern aligns with techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1213.002 sub-technique for data from information repositories, as attackers can extract sensitive files through improper access control mechanisms. Organizations using affected versions of NetAlertX should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading to version 24.10.12 or later, which includes proper input validation and redirect handling mechanisms. Additional mitigations should include network-level restrictions on access to the affected components, implementation of web application firewalls, and comprehensive monitoring for suspicious file access patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts.