CVE-2022-41720: Restricted file access on Windows in os and net/http

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2022-12-07 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-22

Description

On Windows, restricted files can be accessed via os.DirFS and http.Dir. The os.DirFS function and http.Dir type provide access to a tree of files rooted at a given directory. These functions permit access to Windows device files under that root. For example, os.DirFS("C:/tmp").Open("COM1") opens the COM1 device. Both os.DirFS and http.Dir only provide read-only filesystem access. In addition, on Windows, an os.DirFS for the directory (the root of the current drive) can permit a maliciously crafted path to escape from the drive and access any path on the system. With fix applied, the behavior of os.DirFS("") has changed. Previously, an empty root was treated equivalently to "/", so os.DirFS("").Open("tmp") would open the path "/tmp". This now returns an error.

Affected products

Go: before 1.18.9; from 1.19.0 before 1.19.4 — fixed in 1.18.9, 1.19.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Go 1.18.9, 1.19.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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