GHSA-r28c-9q8g-f849

PostCSS: Path Traversal in Previous Source Map Auto-Loading (sourceMappingURL) leads to Arbitrary .map File Disclosure

Published

2026-07-24

Modified

2026-07-28

Sources

github-advisory, osv

Summary

## Vulnerability Details **File**: `lib/previous-map.js` **Line**: 87-98 (`loadFile`), 129-144 (`loadMap`) ### Root Cause PostCSS auto-detects a `/*# sourceMappingURL=... */` comment inside the CSS text it is asked to parse and, unless the caller explicitly passes `map: false`, attempts to load that path from disk as a "previous source map." This happens on every `postcss.parse()` / `postcss().process()` call by default (opt-out, not opt-in). `loadMap()` builds the candidate path via `join(dirname(opts.from), annotation)`, where `annotation` is the raw, attacker-controlled string from the CSS comment. `path.join()` normalizes but does not sandbox `..` segments, so a `../../../` prefix walks the resolved path outside the intended directory. If `opts.from` is not set at all, the annotation is used completely unmodified — an absolute path in the CSS comment is read verbatim. 8.5.12 already fixed a strictly worse variant of this (any file, any extension, could be read) by requiring the resolved path to end in `.map` (`loadFile()`). That fix did not address the traversal itself, only the target extension. Since the `join(dirname(file), map)` logic has existed unchanged since PostCSS 8.0.0 (Feb 2020), any file ending in `.map` remains readable through this path in the current release (8.5.16). Once loaded, `MapGenerator.isMap()` treats the mere presence of a loaded "previous map" as an implicit request to generate `result.map`, even when the caller never set the `map` option. If the loaded map has a `sourcesContent` field (common for maps emitted by bundlers/transpilers), that content is merged into `result.map` and returned to the caller — disclosing the traversed-to file's content to whoever supplied the CSS. ### Attack Scenario 1. A service accepts user-submitted CSS and runs it through PostCSS to lint/format/transform it, e.g. `postcss().process(userCss, { from: '/app/uploads/user123/input.css', to: '/app/uploads/user123/output.css' })` — idiomatic usage; `map` option untouched. 2. Attacker submits CSS containing `/*# sourceMappingURL=../../../../some/other/app/dist/bundle.js.map */` (or an absolute path if `from` is unset). 3. PostCSS reads that `.map` file and folds its `sourcesContent` into `result.map`. 4. The service does what most build pipelines do with a truthy `result.map` — writes it next to the CSS output or returns it via API (source maps are meant to be consumed by browser devtools, so this is commonly public/served). 5. Attacker retrieves the emitted map and reads out the traversed file's content. ### Impact Disclosure of the contents of arbitrary `.map` files reachable via path traversal (or absolute path when `from` is unset) from the process's filesystem. Affects any application processing CSS it does not fully trust without explicitly passing `map: false`. No authentication or user interaction beyond submitting CSS text is required. ### Vulnerable Code ```js loadFile(path, cssFile, trusted) { if (!trusted && !this.unsafeMap) { if (!/\.map$/i.test(path)) { return undefined } } this.root = dirname(path) if (existsSync(path)) { this.mapFile = path return readFileSync(path, 'utf-8').toString().trim() } } loadMap(file, prev) { ... } else if (this.annotation) { let map = this.annotation if (file) map = join(dirname(file), map) let unknown = this.loadFile(map, file, false) ... } } ``` ### Recommended Fix Constrain the resolved path to remain inside the CSS file's own directory instead of relying solely on a filename-extension check: ```js loadFile(path, cssFile, trusted) { if (!trusted && !this.unsafeMap) { if (!/\.map$/i.test(path)) { return undefined } if (!cssFile) return undefined let root = resolve(dirname(cssFile)) let resolvedPath = resolve(root, path) if (resolvedPath !== root && !resolvedPath.startsWith(root + sep)) { return undefined } } this.root = dirname(path) if (existsSync(path)) { this.m

Affected packages

Remediation: Upgrade to 8.5.18 or later.

References

• https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-r28c-9q8g-f849