EGroupware Vulnerable to Local File Inclusion via file:// URI in Mail Compose
Impact
The function processes image URLs embedded in an HTML email body without validating or restricting URI schemes. The check !str_starts_with($myUrl, 'http') evaluates to true for file:// URIs, causing file_get_contents($basedir . urldecode($myUrl)) to read arbitrary files from the server filesystem and embed them as inline MIME attachments in outgoing email.
Source excerpt · OSVAffected packages
Start with the recorded fix for your release branch. Check your installed version and test compatibility before upgrading. Fixing this advisory does not rule out other vulnerabilities in the release.
| Affected range | Recorded fix |
|---|---|
| From 26.0.20251208 before 26.5.20260507Ecosystem versions | 26.5.20260507 |
| Earlier releases before 23.1.20260601Ecosystem versions | 23.1.20260601 |
Version evidence: OSV · GHSA-c8m7-r2jv-rw63
View original version evidence (203 explicit versions)
Original source description
Summary
The function processes image URLs embedded in an HTML email body without validating or restricting URI schemes. The check !str_starts_with($myUrl, 'http') evaluates to true for file:// URIs, causing file_get_contents($basedir . urldecode($myUrl)) to read arbitrary files from the server filesystem and embed them as inline MIME attachments in outgoing email.
str_starts_with('file:///etc/passwd', 'http') → false !false → true
// api/src/Mail.php
foreach($images[2] as $i => $url)
{
//$isData = false;
$basedir = $data = '';
$needTempFile = true;
$attachmentData = ['name' => '', 'type' => '', 'file' => '', 'tmp_name' => ''];
try
{
// do not change urls for absolute images (thanks to corvuscorax)
if (!str_starts_with($url, 'data:'))
{
$attachmentData['name'] = basename($url); // need to resolve all sort of url
if (($directory = dirname($url)) == '.') $directory = '';
$ext = pathinfo($attachmentData['name'], PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
$attachmentData['type'] = MimeMagic::ext2mime($ext);
if ( strlen($directory) > 1 && !str_ends_with($directory, '/')) { $directory .= '/'; }
..
...
....
// processURL2InlineImages function
if ( $myUrl[0]!='/' && strlen($basedir) > 1 && !str_ends_with($basedir, '/')) { $basedir .= '/'; }
if ($needTempFile && empty($attachment) && !str_starts_with($myUrl, "http"))
{
try {
$data = file_get_contents($basedir.urldecode($myUrl));
}
catch (\Throwable $e) {
_egw_log_exception($e);
}
}
}
if (str_starts_with($url, 'data:'))
PoC
- Log in as any authenticated EGroupware user with mail access and open the mail compose window.
- Switch to HTML body mode and insert:
<img src="file:///etc/passwd">. - The server executes file_get_contents('file:///etc/passwd'), writes the content to a temp file, and attaches it as an inline MIME part.
Impact
An authenticated attacker can read arbitrary files accessible by the web server process, including /etc/passwd, application configuration files containing database credentials, private TLS keys, and environment files.
Remediation
Enforce a strict URI scheme allowlist before calling file_get_contents(). Replace the check !str_starts_with($myUrl, 'http') with if (!preg_match('#^https?://#i', $myUrl)) { continue; } to reject file://, ftp://, php://, data://, and any other non-HTTP scheme.