CVE-2024-9617VulnerabilityPublished 20 Mar 2025Updated 15 Oct 2025

CVE-2024-9617: danswer-ai/danswer · Insecure Direct Object Reference

Affects danswer-ai/danswerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · public detection template (Nuclei) · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 07:57 UTC

CVSS 3.0 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 1.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 77% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 Mar 2025
Detectable: evidence found.
nuclei template: Danswer - Insecure Direct Object Reference
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubdanswer-ai/danswer`pkg:github/danswer-ai/danswer`Other threats	Affected =0.3.94	Fixed in–

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AI-suggested

European organizations using danswer-ai/danswer should immediately audit their deployment for this vulnerability and implement the following specific mitigations: 1) Enforce strict authorization checks on all file access endpoints, ensuring that the requesting user is the owner or has explicit permission to access the file identified by file_id. 2) Implement robust access control mechanisms such as role-based access control (RBAC) or attribute-based access control (ABAC) to limit file visibility. 3) Monitor and log all file access requests, especially those involving unusual file_id patterns or access attempts from unexpected users. 4) Conduct a thorough code review and penetration testing focused on IDOR and authorization bypass issues in the API. 5) If possible, isolate sensitive files or data in separate storage with additional access restrictions. 6) Educate developers and security teams on secure API design principles to prevent similar flaws. 7) Stay alert for official patches or updates from danswer-ai and apply them promptly once available. 8) Consider implementing Web Application Firewalls (WAF) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious file_id manipulation attempts until a patch is deployed.

Description

An IDOR vulnerability in danswer-ai/danswer v0.3.94 allows an attacker to view any files. The application does not verify whether the attacker is the creator of the file, allowing the attacker to directly call the GET /api/chat/file/{file_id} interface to view any user's file.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact of CVE-2024-9617 is unauthorized disclosure of sensitive files stored or shared within the danswer-ai/danswer platform. This can lead to breaches of confidentiality, exposing intellectual property, personal data, or business-critical information. Organizations in regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government could face compliance violations under GDPR and other data protection laws if sensitive personal or confidential data is leaked. The vulnerability could also undermine trust in AI collaboration tools and lead to reputational damage. Since the flaw does not affect integrity or availability, operational disruption is unlikely, but the data exposure risk alone warrants urgent attention. The ease of exploitation and lack of required user interaction increase the threat level, especially in multi-tenant or collaborative environments common in European enterprises. Attackers with limited privileges, such as low-level employees or compromised accounts, could leverage this vulnerability to escalate data access beyond their authorization.

CWE-639Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #24OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data.
Architecture and Design
For each and every data access, ensure that the user has sufficient privilege to access the record that is being requested.
Architecture and Design · Implementation
Make sure that the key that is used in the lookup of a specific user's record is not controllable externally by the user or that any tampering can be detected.
Architecture and Design
Use encryption in order to make it more difficult to guess other legitimate values of the key or associate a digital signature with the key so that the server can verify that there has been no tampering.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Access Control (opens in a new tab)
Authorization Testing Automation (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Request Forgery Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Insecure Direct Object Reference Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V4.1.2 (opens in a new tab)
V4.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

huntr.com/bounties/8f683ff6-3a99-41c6-b763-a8f7b73bd146 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 15 Oct 2025, 13:05 UTC

Public exploits and detectiona Nuclei detection template

WeaknessesCWE-639

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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