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ObserviumApplication

CVE-2020-25134

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-09-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An issue was discovered in Observium Professional, Enterprise & Community 20.8.10631. It is vulnerable to directory traversal and local file inclusion due to the fact that there is an unrestricted possibility of loading any file with an inc.php extension. Inclusion of other files (even though limited to the mentioned extension) can lead to Remote Code Execution. This can occur via /settings/?format=../ URIs to pages/settings.inc.php.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Observium versions prior to the fixed version contain a directory traversal vulnerability in the settings module. The 'format' parameter in /settings/ accepts path traversal sequences (../) allowing attackers to load arbitrary .inc.php files outside the intended directory. Since the application includes these files, and the extension is restricted to .inc.php, this can lead to remote code execution if an attacker can upload or place malicious PHP files reachable via traversal.

MitigationRestrict the 'format' parameter to an allowlist of valid values and implement strict path validation to prevent directory traversal. Ensure no user-writable .inc.php files exist in accessible paths that could be included for RCE.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
ObserviumApplication
Affected:= 20.8.10631

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Observium installation and version
    Locate the Observium installation directory and check the version file (commonly version.php or similar in the root installation directory) or query the application directly via its web interface or CLI command.
    Affected if The installed version is 20.8.10631 or any version prior to the fixed version.
  2. Verify settings module accessibility
    Access the /settings/ endpoint in the web application (e.g., https://your-observium-host/settings/) and confirm the page loads successfully.
    Affected if The settings module is accessible without authentication or with low-privilege user access.
  3. Check for path traversal vulnerability in format parameter
    Send a crafted request to /settings/ with the 'format' parameter containing path traversal sequences (e.g., format=../../../etc/passwd or format=../includes/functions) and observe if the application attempts to include files outside the intended directory.
    Affected if The application accepts path traversal sequences in the 'format' parameter and attempts to include files based on the manipulated path.
  4. Identify writable .inc.php files in accessible paths
    Search the web server document root and related directories for .inc.php files that are writable by the web server user or application user. Check common directories like /tmp, /uploads, or any user-accessible directories.
    Affected if There exist writable .inc.php files in paths that could be reached via the path traversal, which could be leveraged for RCE.

If Observium version is 20.8.10631 or earlier, the settings module is accessible, and the format parameter accepts path traversal sequences, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2020-25134.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Restrict the 'format' parameter to an allowlist of valid values and implement strict path validation to prevent directory traversal. Ensure no user-writable .inc.php files exist in accessible paths that could be included for RCE.

Fix this in Observium Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
19.0 hours of engineering $3,380
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-25134 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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