Path Traversal in Vibe-Trading Proposal Handling

Executive Summary

Vibe-Trading versions before 0.1.10 have a vulnerability where the application constructs file paths by directly joining a user-supplied proposal identifier to the broker proposals directory without sanitizing it.

An attacker can include path traversal sequences in the proposal identifier, causing the application to load a malicious JSON file as a legitimate live trading mandate.

Because the file upload endpoint allows an authenticated user to write JSON files to known locations, the attacker can write a malicious file and then use path traversal to commit it as a live mandate.

Additionally, the ceilings validation is skipped when ceilings are absent, allowing the attacker full control over the committed mandate.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability allows an attacker with authenticated access to the commit API to forge live trading mandates by loading attacker-controlled JSON files.

Such forged mandates can bypass validation checks, potentially leading to unauthorized or malicious trading actions being committed.

The impact includes high integrity risks in live trading deployments, as attackers can manipulate trading mandates without detection.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability involves path traversal in proposal identifiers used by Vibe-Trading before version 0.1.10, allowing an attacker to load malicious JSON files as live trading mandates.

To detect exploitation attempts on your system or network, you should monitor for unusual file access patterns or API calls involving proposal identifiers containing path traversal sequences such as '../' or similar.

Specifically, you can check logs or audit API requests for proposal identifiers that do not conform to the expected opaque format (mp_<32 hex characters>).

• Search application logs or API request logs for proposal IDs containing path traversal sequences, e.g., using grep: grep -r "../" /path/to/logs
• Validate proposal identifiers against the expected pattern using regex, for example: grep -E "mp_[a-f0-9]{32}" /path/to/logs to find valid IDs and flag others.
• Monitor file system access to the broker proposals directory for unexpected file creations or modifications outside the normal naming conventions.
• If you have access to the Vibe-Trading API, attempt to enumerate or audit proposal identifiers to detect any that include path traversal characters.

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Mitigation Strategies

The primary mitigation is to upgrade Vibe-Trading to version 0.1.10 or later, where the vulnerability has been fixed by enforcing strict validation of proposal identifiers and preventing path traversal.

If upgrading immediately is not possible, restrict access to the file upload and commit API endpoints to trusted and authenticated users only, as exploitation requires an admitted caller.

Implement monitoring and alerting for suspicious proposal identifiers that contain path traversal sequences or do not match the expected opaque format.

• Apply the patch that introduces the `_proposal_path()` function to validate proposal IDs and ensure paths remain within the broker proposals directory.
• Restrict permissions on the broker proposals directory to prevent unauthorized file writes or modifications.
• Review and harden authentication and authorization controls around the file upload and commit API endpoints.

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