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GoApplication · Golang

CVE-2023-45283

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-11-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.20.11 / 1.21.4 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
The filepath package does not recognize paths with a \??\ prefix as special. On Windows, a path beginning with \??\ is a Root Local Device path equivalent to a path beginning with \\?\. Paths with a \??\ prefix may be used to access arbitrary locations on the system. For example, the path \??\c:\x is equivalent to the more common path c:\x. Before fix, Clean could convert a rooted path such as \a\..\??\b into the root local device path \??\b. Clean will now convert this to .\??\b. Similarly, Join(\, ??, b) could convert a seemingly innocent sequence of path elements into the root local device path \??\b. Join will now convert this to \.\??\b. In addition, with fix, IsAbs now correctly reports paths beginning with \??\ as absolute, and VolumeName correctly reports the \??\ prefix as a volume name. UPDATE: Go 1.20.11 and Go 1.21.4 inadvertently changed the definition of the volume name in Windows paths starting with \?, resulting in filepath.Clean(\?\c:) returning \?\c: rather than \?\c:\ (among other effects). The previous behavior has been restored.

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

The Go filepath package failed to recognize Windows paths with \??\ prefix as special root local device paths (equivalent to \\?\), allowing potential access to arbitrary filesystem locations. The Clean and Join functions could convert seemingly innocuous paths like \a\..\??\b into dangerous root local device paths. Additionally, IsAbs and VolumeName functions didn't handle these paths correctly.

MitigationUpgrade to Go 1.20.11, Go 1.21.4 or later versions to receive the filepath package security fix. Test all filepath operations on Windows to ensure proper handling of paths with \??\ prefixes.

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
GoApplication
Affected:< 1.20.11>= 1.21.0-0, < 1.21.4

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
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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Windows environment
    Identify if the target system is running Windows. This vulnerability only affects Windows systems due to its handling of Windows-specific path prefixes.
    Affected if The system is running Windows and uses Go for filepath operations.
  2. Identify installed Go version
    Run 'go version' in the target environment or check the Go installation directory for the version number.
    Affected if Go version is less than 1.20.11, or greater than or equal to 1.21.0-0 but less than 1.21.4.
  3. Locate filepath package usage
    Search codebase for imports of 'path/filepath' and usages of Clean, Join, IsAbs, or VolumeName functions.
    Affected if The codebase imports and uses the filepath package functions on Windows.
  4. Inspect path input sources
    Review code that passes external or user-supplied paths to filepath functions, particularly on Windows.
    Affected if Path inputs originate from untrusted sources or can be influenced by external input on Windows systems.

A Windows system is affected if it runs Go versions below 1.20.11 or between 1.21.0-0 and 1.21.4, and the codebase uses filepath package functions with external or user-controlled path inputs.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.20.11 / 1.21.4 or later
Fixed in 1.20.111.21.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Go 1.20.11, Go 1.21.4 or later versions to receive the filepath package security fix. Test all filepath operations on Windows to ensure proper handling of paths with \??\ prefixes.

Recommended fix High confidence

Go 1.20.11 or Go 1.21.4 or later (e.g., Go 1.21.5)

  1. Upgrade Go to version 1.20.11 or later (recommended: 1.21.5 or later for additional fixes)
  2. Verify the upgrade by running `go version` to confirm the installed version
  3. If using dependency management, run `go mod tidy` and `go mod verify` to ensure all dependencies are compatible
  4. Test filepath operations on Windows to confirm the path traversal protection is working correctly
Caveat Low risk - this is a security fix that corrects path handling behavior; however, applications relying on the previous incorrect behavior may need adjustment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Go Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2023-45283 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data