GHSA-38xv-hf3p-h7mq
rclone: source object names can escape the configured root on upload
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/rclone/rclone | < 1.75.1 | 1.75.1 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
Multiple backends, when given a specially crafted object to copy, can escape the backend confinement.
| Backend | Keep/Close | Per-backend severity |
|---|---|---|
| sftp | Medium | Real filesystem escape, fires under default encoding. |
| smb | Low-Medium | Escapes to a different SMB share the credential can reach. |
| ftp | Low | Real, leading-`..` overshoot PoC is partly neutralized by encoding; escape bounded to at/below the login base. |
| webdav | Low | Server-side ACLs are the real boundary. |
| b2 | Low | Same-account sibling **bucket** crossing on a flat keyspace. |
| swift | Low | Same, container. |
| qingstor | Low | Same. |
| oracleobjectstorage | Low | Same. |
| internetarchive | Low | IA items are owner-writable only; confined to user's own items. |
| storj | Low | Can retarget a different bucket in the same access grant. |
| filelu | Low | Confined to the user's own account. |
| shade | Low | Confined to the user's own drive. |
| sia | Low | siad API password already grants full-daemon access. |
## Root cause
rclone core does **not** sanitize `..` in a source object's `Remote()` - verified: nothing in `fs/march`, `fs/sync`, `fs/list`, or `fs/operations` rejects `..` segments before the name reaches the destination backend's `Put`/`Update`/`Mkdir`. Confinement is therefore each backend's responsibility, and these backends join `root + remote` without a check.
This divides into two classes:
- **Bucket based backends** - `bucket.Split(path.Join(f.root, rootRelativePath))`:
- `backend/b2/b2.go:404`, `backend/swift/swift.go:464`, `backend/qingstor/qingstor.go:198`, `backend/oracleobjectstorage/oracleobjectstorage.go:245`, `backend/internetarchive/internetarchive.go:1016`, `backend/smb/smb.go:885`, `backend/storj/fs.go:289`.
- `path.Join` collapses `..` on the standard (ASCII) form **before** encoding is applied (e.g. `FromStandardPath(path.Join(...))` at `backend/b2/b2.go:1641`), so `EncodeDot` never gets the chance to neutralize the `..`.
- `lib/bucket.Join` does **not** clean paths (keeps `..` as a literal key segment); `path.Join` does. `backend/s3`, `backend/azureblob`, `backend/googlecloudstorage` already use `bucket.Join` and are therefore not affected.
- **Path based backends** - `path.Join(root, remote)` onto a real path:
- sftp: `remotePath = path.Join(f.absRoot, f.opt.Enc.FromStandardPath(remote))` (`backend/sftp/sftp.go:2497`). Default encoding is `encoder.Display` (== `Standard`), and `FromStandardPath` short-circuits to a pass-through in that mode, so `..` survives; `f.absRoot` is absolute, so `path.Join("/home/user/root", "../../../../etc/passwd")` -> `/etc/passwd`.
- webdav: `filePath` at `backend/webdav/webdav.go:426-432`.
- ftp: `path.Join(f.root, remote)` at ~14 sites (e.g. `backend/ftp/ftp.go:1247`).
- filelu, shade, sia: analogous joins.
### Precondition that limits reachability
For any of these to fire, a **source** must hand rclone a `Remote()` containing raw `..`. That is only possible when:
1. the source is a **flat-keyspace object store** (not a filesystem - a local/sftp/smb source cannot represent `../../x` as one directory entry), **and**
2. the offending key was written with **native, non-rclone tooling** - rclone's own writer applies `EncodeDot` and rewrites a `..` segment to fullwidth `..`, so you cannot create such a key *through rclone*.
rclone's source-side listing does pass a natively-planted raw `..` key through unchanged (verified for b2: `remote := file.Name[len(prefix):]` after `ToStandardPath`, `backend/b2/b2.go:858,867`). The reports never establish this precondition; it is the same omission across every member of the class.
### Example attack
```bash
# Step 1 - attacker, using NATIVE S3 tooling (NOT rclone) on a source the victim ingests from:
aws s3api put-object --bucket shared-drop --key '../../victim-backups/pwned.txt' --body evil.txt
# Step 2 - victim's ordinary ingest:
rclone copy s3-drop:shared-drop b2:victim-uploads/incoming
# path.Join("victim-uploads/incoming", "../../victim-backups/pwned.txt") = "victim-backups/pwned.txt"
# -> lands in the victim's victim-backups bucket instead of under incoming/
```
The blast radius is the victim's **own** account (a bucket/share/path the configured credential already reaches) - integrity misdirection, not a cross-tenant or confidentiality breach. sftp/smb are the exception in *reach* (server filesystem / other share), still bounded by the login's own permissions.
## Precedent
This is the same class as the already-fixed local backend advisory [https://github.com/rclone/rclone/security/advisories/GHSA-7p4m-qxvv-g567](GHSA-7p4m-qxvv-g567), which added `(*Fs).localPath` returning `errPathEscapes` for names resolving outside the root (`backend/local/local.go:819-826`). That fix was justified because the destination was the operator's own OS filesystem; the same reasoning extends (at lower severity) to sftp/smb.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.