ObserviumApplication

CVE-2020-25149

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=health&metric=../ because of device/health.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 allow directory traversal via the 'metric' parameter in the device health tab. By supplying values like '../' an attacker can load arbitrary .inc.php files from outside the intended directory, leading to local file inclusion and potentially remote code execution.

MitigationImplement strict input validation on the metric parameter to restrict it to allowed values, and use realpath() validation to ensure included files are within expected directories.

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 installed Observium version
    Check the Observium version by inspecting the file /opt/observium/includes/version.inc.php or running the command: grep 'OBSERVIUM_VERSION' /opt/observium/html/includes/version.inc.php
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 20.8.10631 (the fixed version)
  2. Verify device health module is active
    Check if the device health functionality is enabled by looking for health-related configuration in /opt/observium/config.php or by accessing the Devices menu in the Observium web interface
    Affected if The device health tab is accessible and the 'metric' parameter feature is in use
  3. Confirm metric parameter is accessible
    Test accessing a device health page URL pattern such as: /device/device=NAME/tab=health/ - verify the metric parameter is accepted in the request
    Affected if The health tab loads and accepts a 'metric' parameter in the URL or form submission
  4. Check for directory traversal vulnerability
    Inspect the PHP source code in /opt/observium/html/pages/device/health.inc.php or related health module files to see if the metric parameter is used in an include/require statement without sanitization
    Affected if The code includes files based on the metric parameter without validating it does not contain '../' path traversal sequences

A system is affected if it runs Observium version lower than 20.8.10631 and has the device health module enabled with the metric parameter vulnerable to path traversal.

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

Implement strict input validation on the metric parameter to restrict it to allowed values, and use realpath() validation to ensure included files are within expected directories.

Fix this in Observium Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-25149 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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