CVE-2020-25623
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 · uneditedErlang/OTP 22.3.x before 22.3.4.6 and 23.x before 23.1 allows Directory Traversal. An attacker can send a crafted HTTP request to read arbitrary files, if httpd in the inets application is used.
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 confidenceErlang/OTP httpd in the inets application contains a directory traversal vulnerability allowing unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary files by sending HTTP requests with path traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../etc/passwd). The vulnerability affects versions 22.3.x before 22.3.4.6 and 23.x before 23.1.
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>= 22.3.0, < 22.3.4.6>= 23.0.0, < 23.1CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Erlang/OTP versionRun 'erl -eval "erlang:display(erlang:system_info(otp_release)), halt()." -noshell' or check 'erl -version' outputAffected if Version is 22.3.x before 22.3.4.6, or 23.0.x before 23.1 (i.e., 22.3.0 through 22.3.4.5, or 23.0.0 through 23.0.9)
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Verify inets application is loadedCheck if inets is started: run 'erl -noshell -eval "{ok, _} = inets:start(), erlang:halt()."' or inspect application startup logsAffected if The inets application is started or configured to start automatically
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Confirm httpd service is configuredLook for httpd configuration files (typically under /etc/inets/ or application config files) or check for inets:start/httpd calls in startup scriptsAffected if An HTTP daemon (httpd) is configured and running via inets
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Test for path traversal exposureSend a crafted HTTP request to the exposed httpd endpoint with path traversal such as 'GET /../../../../etc/passwd HTTP/1.1' and observe if file contents are returnedAffected if The server returns file contents from outside the document root, confirming the vulnerability is exploitable
You are affected if your Erlang/OTP version falls within 22.3.0-22.3.4.5 or 23.0.0-23.0.9 AND the inets httpd service is running and network-accessible.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data22.3.4.623.1
Upgrade Erlang/OTP to version 22.3.4.6, 23.1, or later. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, restrict network access to the httpd service and implement web application firewall rules to block path traversal patterns.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-25623 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-25623 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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