GHSA-g7pc-pc7g-h8jh Caddy: MatchPath %xx (escaped-path) branch skips case normalization, enabling path-based route/auth bypass
SummaryCaddy's HTTP `path` request matcher is intended to be case-insensitive, but when the match pattern contains percent-escape sequences (`%xx`) it compares against the request's escaped path without lowercasing. An attacker can bypass path-based routing and any access controls attached to that route by changing the casing of the request path.DetailsIn Caddy `v2.10.2`, `MatchPath` is explicitly designed to be case-insensitive and lowercases match patterns during provisioning:`modules/caddyhttp/matchers.go`: rationale captured in the `MatchPath` comment.`MatchPath.Provision` lowercases configured patterns via `strings.ToLower`.`MatchPath.MatchWithError` lowercases the request path for the normal matching path: `reqPath := strings.ToLower(r.URL.Path)`.But when a match pattern contains a percent sign (`%`), `MatchPath.MatchWithError` switches to "escaped space" matching and builds the comparison string from `r.URL.EscapedPath()`:`reqPathForPattern := CleanPath(r.URL.EscapedPath(), mergeSlashes)`If it doesn't match, it `continue`s (skipping the remaining matching logic for that pattern).Because `r.URL.EscapedPath()` is not lowercased, case differences in the request path can cause the escaped-space match to fail even though `MatchPath` is meant to be case-insensitive. For example, with a pattern of `/admin%2Fpanel`:Requesting `/admin%2Fpanel` matches and can be denied as intended.Requesting `/ADMIN%2Fpanel` does not match and falls through to other routes/handlers.Suggested fixIn the `%`-pattern matching path, ensure the effective string passed to `path.Match` is lowercased (same as the normal branch).Simplest seems to lowercase the constructed string in `matchPatternWithEscapeSequence` right before `path.Match`.Reproduced on:Stable release: `v2.10.2` -- this is the release referenced in the reproduction below.Dev build: `v2.11.0-beta.2`.Master tip: commit `58968b3fd38cacbf4b5e07cc8c8be27696dce60f`.PoCPrereqs:bash, curlA pre-built Caddy binary available at `/opt/caddy-2.10.2/caddy` (edit `CADDY_BIN` in the script if needed)ImpactThis is a route/auth bypass in Caddy's path-matching logic for patterns that include escape sequences. Deployments that use `path` matchers with `%xx` patterns to block or protect sensitive endpoints (including encoded-path variants such as encoded slashes) can be bypassed by changing the casing of the request path, allowing unauthorized access to sensitive endpoints behind Caddy depending on upstream configuration.The reproduction is minimal per the reporting guidance. In a realistic "full" scenario, a deployment may block `%xx` variants like `path /admin%2Fpanel`, otherwise proxying. If the backend is case-insensitive/normalizing, `/ADMIN%2Fpanel` maps to the same handler; Caddy’s `%`-pattern match misses due to case, so the block is skipped and the request falls through.AI Use DisclosureA custom AI agent pipeline was used to discover the vulnerability, after which was manually reproduced and validated each step. The entire report was ran through an LLM to make sure nothing obvious was missed.Disclosure/creditingAsim Viladi Oglu Manizada
CVSS v4.0 score: 7.7