Overview
CVE-2025-12097 is a high-severity relative path traversal vulnerability affecting the NI System Web Server. This vulnerability, present in versions 2012 and prior, allows a remote attacker to potentially read arbitrary files on the server by sending a specially crafted request. This could lead to sensitive information disclosure, posing a significant risk to affected systems.
Technical Details
The vulnerability stems from improper input validation within the NI System Web Server’s handling of file requests. By exploiting a relative path traversal vulnerability, an attacker can manipulate the requested file path using “..” sequences, allowing them to navigate outside the intended web server directory and access arbitrary files on the underlying system. The server fails to adequately sanitize these path components, leading to the successful exploitation.
An example of a malicious request could look like this:
GET /../../../../etc/passwd HTTP/1.1
This crafted request attempts to access the /etc/passwd file on a Linux-based system, potentially revealing sensitive user account information.
CVSS Analysis
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) assigns CVE-2025-12097 a score of 7.5, indicating a HIGH severity. The CVSS vector reflects the following characteristics:
- Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – The vulnerability is exploitable over the network.
- Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – The vulnerability is relatively easy to exploit.
- Privileges Required (PR): None (N) – No privileges are required to exploit the vulnerability.
- User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user interaction is required to exploit the vulnerability.
- Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority.
- Confidentiality Impact (C): High (H) – There is a high impact to confidentiality.
- Integrity Impact (I): None (N) – There is no impact to integrity.
- Availability Impact (A): None (N) – There is no impact to availability.
Possible Impact
Successful exploitation of CVE-2025-12097 can have severe consequences, including:
- Information Disclosure: An attacker can gain access to sensitive configuration files, user credentials, and other confidential data.
- System Compromise: Depending on the files accessed, an attacker might be able to escalate privileges or gain unauthorized access to the entire system.
- Data Breach: Stolen data can be used for malicious purposes, such as identity theft, financial fraud, or corporate espionage.
Mitigation and Patch Steps
The recommended mitigation strategy is to upgrade to a version of the NI System Web Server that includes the fix for this vulnerability. National Instruments released a patch in 2013 to address this issue.
- Upgrade to a patched version: The most effective solution is to upgrade the NI System Web Server to a version released after 2013.
- Network Segmentation: Isolate the NI System Web Server within a segmented network to limit the potential impact of a successful attack.
