Tauri Filesystem Scope can be Partially Bypassed

Vulnerability

Overview

Tauri versions prior to 1.0.7 and 1.1.2 contain an Incorrectly-Resolved Name vulnerability due to improper escaping of special characters in paths selected through the file dialog or drag-and-drop functionality [1][4]. The bug lies in how the framework handles path strings when adding user-selected files or directories to the runtime allow list. Special characters such as *, **, and character classes like [a-Z] were not escaped, making it possible to partially bypass the fs scope definition [4]. The issue is limited to neighboring files and subdirectories of already allowed paths; full directory traversal is not achievable [1].

Exploitation

Prerequisites

Exploitation requires both user interaction and an adversary-controlled logic to access the bypassed files. The attacker must convince the user to select a pre-existing malicious file or directory through the file picker dialog or via a dragged file, as those user-selected paths are automatically added to the allow list at runtime [1][4]. The impact varies across platforms due to different valid path characters: on Linux and macOS, the *, **, and [a-Z] patterns can be used to read subdirectory contents or single-character files; on Windows, only [a-Z] works since * is not a valid path component [4]. This means, for example, that on Windows a user might inadvertently allow access to all single-character files in an already allowed directory.

Impact

A successful bypass allows an attacker to read the content of subdirectories and single-character files that are within the same folder as an already allowed path, but not traverse into arbitrary directories [1][4]. The CVSS score for this issue is 2.3 (Low), reflecting the high attack complexity, required user interaction, and limited confidential impact [3]. The vulnerability does not enable modification or deletion of files, only unauthorized reading [3].

Mitigation

The issue has been patched in Tauri versions 1.0.7, 1.1.2, and 1.2.0 [1][4]. As a workaround, users can disable the dialog and fileDropEnabled component in the tauri.conf.json configuration file [1][4]. The patch ensures that special characters in user-selected paths are properly escaped before being added to the allow list [4].