CWE-427
Allowed-with-ReviewUncontrolled Search Path Element
Abstraction: Base · Status: Draft
The product uses a fixed or controlled search path to find resources, but one or more locations in that path can be under the control of unintended actors.
1877 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.
GHSA-FPVX-GW57-2P3V
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2024-05-15 18:30 – Updated: 2024-05-15 18:30A vulnerability in the Tail-f High Availability Cluster Communications (HCC) function pack of Cisco Crosswork Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root on an affected device.
This vulnerability exists because a user-controlled search path is used to locate executable files. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by configuring the application in a way that causes a malicious file to be executed. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on an affected device as the root user. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need valid credentials on an affected device.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2024-20366"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427",
"CWE-73"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2024-05-15T18:15:09Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "A vulnerability in the Tail-f High Availability Cluster Communications (HCC) function pack of Cisco Crosswork Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) could allow an authenticated, local attacker to elevate privileges to root on an affected device.\n\n This vulnerability exists because a user-controlled search path is used to locate executable files. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by configuring the application in a way that causes a malicious file to be executed. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on an affected device as the root user. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need valid credentials on an affected device.",
"id": "GHSA-fpvx-gw57-2p3v",
"modified": "2024-05-15T18:30:35Z",
"published": "2024-05-15T18:30:35Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-20366"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-nso-hcc-priv-esc-OWBWCs5D"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
GHSA-FPXQ-878R-VMWF
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2023-08-10 18:31 – Updated: 2024-04-04 06:48A DLL hijacking vulnerability has been discovered in OutSystems Service Studio 11 11.53.30 build 61739. When a user open a .oml file (OutSystems Modeling Language), the application will load the following DLLs from the same directory av_libGLESv2.dll, libcef.DLL, user32.dll, and d3d10warp.dll. Using a crafted DLL, it is possible to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current logged in user.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2022-47636"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2023-08-10T16:15:09Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "A DLL hijacking vulnerability has been discovered in OutSystems Service Studio 11 11.53.30 build 61739. When a user open a .oml file (OutSystems Modeling Language), the application will load the following DLLs from the same directory av_libGLESv2.dll, libcef.DLL, user32.dll, and d3d10warp.dll. Using a crafted DLL, it is possible to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current logged in user.",
"id": "GHSA-fpxq-878r-vmwf",
"modified": "2024-04-04T06:48:37Z",
"published": "2023-08-10T18:31:00Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-47636"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/51678"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174127/OutSystems-Service-Studio-11.53.30-DLL-Hijacking.html"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
GHSA-FQ6P-2QGQ-54M8
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-09-26 18:31 – Updated: 2025-11-19 15:31Notepad++ v8.8.3 has a DLL hijacking vulnerability, which can replace the original DLL file to execute malicious code.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2025-56383"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427",
"CWE-77"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2025-09-26T18:15:36Z",
"severity": "MODERATE"
},
"details": "Notepad++ v8.8.3 has a DLL hijacking vulnerability, which can replace the original DLL file to execute malicious code.",
"id": "GHSA-fq6p-2qgq-54m8",
"modified": "2025-11-19T15:31:32Z",
"published": "2025-09-26T18:31:23Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-56383"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/zer0t0/CVE-2025-56383-Proof-of-Concept/issues/1"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/zer0t0/CVE-2025-56383-Proof-of-Concept"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2025-56383-detect-notepad-vulnerability"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/cve-2025-56383-mitigate-notepad-vulnerability"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
GHSA-FQ75-2P32-52HM
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-12-09 18:30 – Updated: 2025-12-09 18:30Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability in Yandex Disk on MacOS allows Search Order Hijacking.This issue affects Disk: before 3.2.45.3275.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2025-5470"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2025-12-09T16:17:59Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability in Yandex Disk on MacOS allows Search Order Hijacking.This issue affects Disk: before 3.2.45.3275.",
"id": "GHSA-fq75-2p32-52hm",
"modified": "2025-12-09T18:30:37Z",
"published": "2025-12-09T18:30:37Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-5470"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://yandex.com/bugbounty/i/hall-of-fame-products"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:Y/R:A/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber",
"type": "CVSS_V4"
}
]
}
GHSA-FQ86-8676-6J38
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2024-03-19 18:32 – Updated: 2024-08-27 15:32Claris International has fixed a dylib hijacking vulnerability in the FileMaker Pro.app and Claris Pro.app versions on macOS.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2023-42920"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2024-03-19T17:15:08Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "Claris International has fixed a dylib hijacking vulnerability in the FileMaker Pro.app and Claris Pro.app versions on macOS.",
"id": "GHSA-fq86-8676-6j38",
"modified": "2024-08-27T15:32:42Z",
"published": "2024-03-19T18:32:00Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-42920"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://support.claris.com/s/article/FileMaker-Security-Information?language=en_US"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
GHSA-FRHW-RP32-3863
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2022-11-19 00:30 – Updated: 2022-11-22 21:30InstallBuilder Qt installers built with versions previous to 22.10 try to load DLLs from the installer binary parent directory when displaying popups. This may allow an attacker to plant a malicious DLL in the installer parent directory to allow executing code with the privileges of the installer (when the popup triggers the loading of the library). Exploiting these type of vulnerabilities generally require that an attacker has access to a vulnerable machine to plant the malicious DLL.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2022-31694"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2022-11-18T23:15:00Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "InstallBuilder Qt installers built with versions previous to 22.10 try to load DLLs from the installer binary parent directory when displaying popups. This may allow an attacker to plant a malicious DLL in the installer parent directory to allow executing code with the privileges of the installer (when the popup triggers the loading of the library). Exploiting these type of vulnerabilities generally require that an attacker has access to a vulnerable machine to plant the malicious DLL.",
"id": "GHSA-frhw-rp32-3863",
"modified": "2022-11-22T21:30:17Z",
"published": "2022-11-19T00:30:55Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-31694"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://blog.installbuilder.com/2022/11/installbuilder-22100-released.html"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
GHSA-FV2J-F74F-8CGR
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2022-02-16 00:01 – Updated: 2022-05-01 00:00Affected versions of Atlassian Confluence Server and Data Center allow authenticated local attackers to achieve elevated privileges on the local system via a DLL Hijacking vulnerability in the Confluence installer. The affected versions are before version 7.4.10, and from version 7.5.0 before 7.12.3.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2021-43940"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2022-02-15T04:15:00Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "Affected versions of Atlassian Confluence Server and Data Center allow authenticated local attackers to achieve elevated privileges on the local system via a DLL Hijacking vulnerability in the Confluence installer. The affected versions are before version 7.4.10, and from version 7.5.0 before 7.12.3.",
"id": "GHSA-fv2j-f74f-8cgr",
"modified": "2022-05-01T00:00:48Z",
"published": "2022-02-16T00:01:54Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-43940"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-66550"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
GHSA-FV5F-J75M-8C2J
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-06-17 21:32 – Updated: 2025-06-17 21:32An uncontrolled search path vulnerability in the Trend Micro Apex One Data Loss Prevention module could allow an attacker to inject malicious code leading to arbitrary code execution on affected installations.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2025-49155"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2025-06-17T19:15:33Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "An uncontrolled search path vulnerability in the Trend Micro Apex One Data Loss Prevention module could allow an attacker to inject malicious code leading to arbitrary code execution on affected installations.",
"id": "GHSA-fv5f-j75m-8c2j",
"modified": "2025-06-17T21:32:30Z",
"published": "2025-06-17T21:32:29Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-49155"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://success.trendmicro.com/en-US/solution/KA-0019917"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-25-362"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
GHSA-FVG2-944M-V7HQ
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2022-05-24 16:50 – Updated: 2022-09-04 00:00A CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability exists in ProClima (all versions prior to version 8.0.0) which could allow a malicious DLL file, with the same name of any resident DLLs inside the software installation, to execute arbitrary code in all versions of ProClima prior to version 8.0.0.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2019-6825"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2019-07-15T21:15:00Z",
"severity": "HIGH"
},
"details": "A CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability exists in ProClima (all versions prior to version 8.0.0) which could allow a malicious DLL file, with the same name of any resident DLLs inside the software installation, to execute arbitrary code in all versions of ProClima prior to version 8.0.0.",
"id": "GHSA-fvg2-944m-v7hq",
"modified": "2022-09-04T00:00:23Z",
"published": "2022-05-24T16:50:25Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-6825"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://www.schneider-electric.com/en/download/document/SEVD-2019-162-01"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
GHSA-FVWQ-FQR3-FWQF
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2022-05-24 17:02 – Updated: 2024-04-04 02:40A vulnerability in the loading mechanism of specific dynamic link libraries in Cisco Webex Teams for Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform a DLL hijacking attack. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to have valid credentials on the Windows system. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of the resources loaded by the application at run time. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by crafting a malicious DLL file and placing it in a specific location on the targeted system. The malicious DLL file would execute when the vulnerable application is launched. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target machine with the privileges of another user account.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2019-16001"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-427"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2019-11-26T04:15:00Z",
"severity": "MODERATE"
},
"details": "A vulnerability in the loading mechanism of specific dynamic link libraries in Cisco Webex Teams for Windows could allow an authenticated, local attacker to perform a DLL hijacking attack. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker would need to have valid credentials on the Windows system. The vulnerability is due to insufficient validation of the resources loaded by the application at run time. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by crafting a malicious DLL file and placing it in a specific location on the targeted system. The malicious DLL file would execute when the vulnerable application is launched. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target machine with the privileges of another user account.",
"id": "GHSA-fvwq-fqr3-fwqf",
"modified": "2024-04-04T02:40:57Z",
"published": "2022-05-24T17:02:10Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-16001"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20191120-webex-teams-dll"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
Mitigation
Strategy: Attack Surface Reduction
Hard-code the search path to a set of known-safe values (such as system directories), or only allow them to be specified by the administrator in a configuration file. Do not allow these settings to be modified by an external party. Be careful to avoid related weaknesses such as CWE-426 and CWE-428.
Mitigation
Strategy: Attack Surface Reduction
When invoking other programs, specify those programs using fully-qualified pathnames. While this is an effective approach, code that uses fully-qualified pathnames might not be portable to other systems that do not use the same pathnames. The portability can be improved by locating the full-qualified paths in a centralized, easily-modifiable location within the source code, and having the code refer to these paths.
Mitigation
Strategy: Attack Surface Reduction
Remove or restrict all environment settings before invoking other programs. This includes the PATH environment variable, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, and other settings that identify the location of code libraries, and any application-specific search paths.
Mitigation
Check your search path before use and remove any elements that are likely to be unsafe, such as the current working directory or a temporary files directory. Since this is a denylist approach, it might not be a complete solution.
Mitigation
Use other functions that require explicit paths. Making use of any of the other readily available functions that require explicit paths is a safe way to avoid this problem. For example, system() in C does not require a full path since the shell can take care of finding the program using the PATH environment variable, while execl() and execv() require a full path.
CAPEC-38: Leveraging/Manipulating Configuration File Search Paths
This pattern of attack sees an adversary load a malicious resource into a program's standard path so that when a known command is executed then the system instead executes the malicious component. The adversary can either modify the search path a program uses, like a PATH variable or classpath, or they can manipulate resources on the path to point to their malicious components. J2EE applications and other component based applications that are built from multiple binaries can have very long list of dependencies to execute. If one of these libraries and/or references is controllable by the attacker then application controls can be circumvented by the attacker.
CAPEC-471: Search Order Hijacking
An adversary exploits a weakness in an application's specification of external libraries to exploit the functionality of the loader where the process loading the library searches first in the same directory in which the process binary resides and then in other directories. Exploitation of this preferential search order can allow an attacker to make the loading process load the adversary's rogue library rather than the legitimate library. This attack can be leveraged with many different libraries and with many different loading processes. No forensic trails are left in the system's registry or file system that an incorrect library had been loaded.