Possible false positive "Uncontrolled data used in path expression" still after stripping path from input.
- Dominant language
- CodeQL
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Description
The .NET `System.IO.Path.GetFileName` will take a path, relative or otherwise, and return only the filename part. I am using this to sanitize the input to a Download action that serves files from a hardcoded folder. The initial code looked like this, which is in fact vulnerable:
```
[HttpGet]
public IActionResult Download(string fileName)
{
string filesDir = "Files\\FilesToServe";
string filePath = Path.Combine(filesDir, fileName);
if (System.IO.File.Exists(filePath))
{
FileStream fs = new FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Open);
return File(fs, "text/plain", fileName);
}
return NotFound();
}
```
Corrective action was taken so that only a file name with no additional path will be used to look for the file:
```
[HttpGet]
public IActionResult Download(string fileName)
{
string strippedFileName = Path.GetFileName(fileName);
string filesDir = "Files\\FilesToServe";
string filePath = Path.Combine(filesDir, strippedFileName);
if (System.IO.File.Exists(filePath))
{
FileStream fs = new FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Open);
return File(fs, "text/plain", strippedFileName);
}
return NotFound();
}
```
This still detects "Uncontrolled data used in path expression (cs/path-injection)" for `filePath` even though it has been tested to no longer serve files outside of `filesDir` when passing in parameters such as "../../../FileThatShouldntBeServed.txt".
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by reproducing the C# examples in a CodeQL test case and inspect how the cs/path-injection query models Path.GetFileName. Compare results for the original vulnerable code and the stripped-file-name version; done means the sanitized example is not flagged while the original remains detected.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- csharp
- Domain
- security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100