GHSA-rw9q-97r9-8gvh
motionEye's Absolute Path Traversal in Media File Handlers Allows Arbitrary File Read
Packages
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
mEye contains an absolute path traversal vulnerability in multiple media file handlers that allows an attacker to read arbitrary files from the filesystem.
The affected handlers accept a user-controlled filename parameter and construct filesystem paths using `os.path.join()`. When an absolute path is supplied, Python discards the configured media directory and returns the attacker-supplied path directly. The application then bypasses Tornado's built-in path validation by overriding the relevant safety checks.
As a result, an attacker can access files outside of the configured camera media directory, subject to the permissions of the motionEye process.
### Details
The issue exists in the media playback and download functionality.
The filename parameter is passed to `mediafiles.get_media_path()`:
```python
def get_media_path(camera_config, path, media_type):
target_dir = camera_config.get('target_dir')
full_path = os.path.join(target_dir, path)
return full_path
```
When path is an absolute path (e.g. `/etc/motioneye/motion.conf`), Python's `os.path.join()` discards `target_dir` entirely and returns the absolute path as-is. This would normally be caught by Tornado's StaticFileHandler path validation, but MoviePlaybackHandler explicitly overrides both safety checks (`movie_playback.py` lines 111-115):
```
def get_absolute_path(self, root, path):
return path
def validate_absolute_path(self, root, absolute_path):
return absolute_path
```
This allows reading any file on the filesystem that the motionEye process can access.
The same path traversal exists in the movie download, picture download, and picture preview handlers:
- GET /movie/<camera_id>/download/<filename>
- GET /picture/<camera_id>/download/<filename>
- GET /picture/<camera_id>/preview/<filename>
# PoC
```
GET /movie/1/playback//etc/motioneye/motion.conf HTTP/1.1
Host: target:8765
```
# Fix
Do not allow absolute paths supplied by user input.
Validate that the fully resolved canonical path remains within the configured camera media directory before serving a file.
Additionally, Tornado’s built-in path validation should not be bypassed unless equivalent validation is performed by motionEye.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.