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ObserviumApplication

CVE-2020-25145

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 /device/device=345/?tab=ports&view=../ URIs because of device/port.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 fix contain a directory traversal vulnerability in the device/port.inc.php file. The 'view' parameter accepts path traversal sequences (../), allowing authenticated attackers to include arbitrary .inc.php files from the filesystem. Since .inc.php files can contain PHP code, this can be chained to achieve remote code execution.

MitigationRestrict the 'view' parameter to a whitelist of allowed values and implement proper input sanitization to block path traversal sequences. Alternatively, refactor the inclusion logic to avoid dynamic file inclusion entirely.

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. Identify Observium installation
    Check if Observium is present on the system by looking for the web application directory (commonly /var/www/html/observium or similar) and verifying the presence of Observium-specific files like config.php or the main index.php with Observium branding.
    Affected if Observium is installed on the system.
  2. Determine installed Observium version
    Locate the version file or check the header of the main index.php file for the version number. Compare this version to the fixed version (20.8.10631).
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 20.8.10631.
  3. Locate the vulnerable file
    Check for the presence of device/port.inc.php in the Observium web root directory.
    Affected if The file device/port.inc.php exists in the Observium installation.
  4. Verify path traversal is possible
    With an authenticated session, send a request to the device/port.inc.php endpoint with a manipulated 'view' parameter containing path traversal sequences (e.g., view=../../../../etc/passwd) to see if arbitrary file inclusion occurs.
    Affected if The 'view' parameter accepts '../' sequences and includes arbitrary .inc.php files from outside the intended directory.
  5. Confirm authentication requirement
    Check whether the target Observium instance requires authentication to access the device/port.inc.php functionality.
    Affected if The application allows access to the vulnerable endpoint without requiring valid authentication credentials.

A user is affected if they have Observium installed with a version lower than 20.8.10631, the vulnerable device/port.inc.php file exists, and the 'view' parameter permits path traversal sequences to include arbitrary .inc.php files.

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 'view' parameter to a whitelist of allowed values and implement proper input sanitization to block path traversal sequences. Alternatively, refactor the inclusion logic to avoid dynamic file inclusion entirely.

Fix this in Observium Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing5.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $2,970
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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-2020-25145 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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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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