CVE-2021-29492

HIGH

Envoy < 1.15.5 - Path Traversal via Escaped Slash Sequences

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

Envoy is a cloud-native edge/middle/service proxy. Envoy does not decode escaped slash sequences `%2F` and `%5C` in HTTP URL paths in versions 1.18.2 and before. A remote attacker may craft a path with escaped slashes, e.g. `/something%2F..%2Fadmin`, to bypass access control, e.g. a block on `/admin`. A backend server could then decode slash sequences and normalize path and provide an attacker access beyond the scope provided for by the access control policy. ### Impact Escalation of Privileges when using RBAC or JWT filters with enforcement based on URL path. Users with back end servers that interpret `%2F` and `/` and `%5C` and `\` interchangeably are impacted. ### Attack Vector URL paths containing escaped slash characters delivered by untrusted client. Patches in versions 1.18.3, 1.17.3, 1.16.4, 1.15.5 contain new path normalization option to decode escaped slash characters. As a workaround, if back end servers treat `%2F` and `/` and `%5C` and `\` interchangeably and a URL path based access control is configured, one may reconfigure the back end server to not treat `%2F` and `/` and `%5C` and `\` interchangeably.

References (1)

Core 1
Core References
Mitigation, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://github.com/envoyproxy/envoy/security/advisories/GHSA-4987-27fx-x6cf

Scores

CVSS v3 8.1
EPSS 0.6838
EPSS Percentile 99.2%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-22
Status published
Products (1)
envoyproxy/envoy < 1.15.5
Published May 28, 2021
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026