Description

Detects path traversal vulnerabilities in Go applications where file read operations could be manipulated with user input to access files outside the intended directory structure. This could allow attackers to read sensitive files on the system by using "../" or similar directory traversal sequences.

Detection Strategy

• Checks if the code imports required Go packages like 'os', 'net/http', or 'path/filepath'

• Identifies file read operations in the code (like os.Open, ioutil.ReadFile)

• Verifies if the file path parameter comes from user-controllable input without proper sanitization

• Reports a vulnerability when user input directly influences file paths in read operations without validation

Vulnerable code example

package main

import (
    "net/http"
    "path/filepath"
)

func vulnerableHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {...

✅ Secure code example

package main

import (
    "net/http"
    "path/filepath"
    "strings"
)
...