Request redirection via semicolon-confused URI userinfo
Published Jun 16, 2024 · Updated Apr 21, 2025
URI parsing in GNU Wget 1.24.5 and earlier allows remote attackers to redirect FTP or FTPS requests via crafted userinfo. The url_skip_credentials function in src/url.c treats a semicolon as a userinfo terminator before checking for @, so the prefix becomes the host. Exploitation requires Wget to process an attacker-controlled FTP or FTPS URL and can send a request to a host chosen by the attacker.
Summary
What happened
URI parsing in GNU Wget 1.24.5 and earlier allows remote attackers to redirect FTP or FTPS requests via crafted userinfo. The url_skip_credentials function in src/url.c treats a semicolon as a userinfo terminator before checking for @, so the prefix becomes the host. Exploitation requires Wget to process an attacker-controlled FTP or FTPS URL and can send a request to a host chosen by the attacker.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-38428
- Published
- Jun 16, 2024
- Updated
- Apr 21, 2025
- Vendor
- The GnuPG Project
- Product
- GNU Wget
- Classifications
- CWE-436, T1204.001
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 16, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 21, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <1.24.5
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
- FTP and FTPS hostname-substitution demonstrationfunctional · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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