CAPEC-48

Passing Local Filenames to Functions That Expect a URL

High severityHigh likelihoodStandard pattern

This attack relies on client side code to access local files and resources instead of URLs. When the client browser is expecting a URL string, but instead receives a request for a local file, that execution is likely to occur in the browser process space with the browser's authority to local files. The attacker can send the results of this request to the local files out to a site that they control. This attack may be used to steal sensitive authentication data (either local or remote), or to gain system profile information to launch further attacks.

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Ask an AI about this attack pattern
How the attack unfolds
Prerequisites
Skills required
Consequences
Mitigations
Weaknesses it exploits
Related attack patterns
Examples

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Explain the attack pattern CAPEC-48: Passing Local Filenames to Functions That Expect a URL: how it unfolds, what it needs and how to prevent and detect it in my systems. Use https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/48.html and https://cve.bz/cve/capec/48?via=ask-ai-copy, which lists recent CVEs with the weaknesses it exploits. Cite the sources.

Opens a third-party assistant; its answer is its own, not cve.bz's. The prompt holds only this attack pattern's id and public links.

How the attack unfolds

Explore
The attacker looks for a way in.
1. [Identify web application URL inputs] Review application inputs to find those that are designed to be URLs.
  2 techniques
  - Manually navigate web site pages to identify URLs.
  - Use automated tools to identify URLs.
Experiment
They probe what they found.
1. [Identify URL inputs allowing local access.] Execute test local commands via each URL input to determine which are successful.
  2 techniques
  - Manually execute a local command (such as 'pwd') via the URL inputs.
  - Using an automated tool, test each URL input for weakness.
Exploit
They carry out the attack.
1. [Execute malicious commands] Using the identified URL inputs that allow local command execution, execute malicious commands.
  1 technique
  - Execute local commands via the URL input.

Prerequisites

The victim's software must not differentiate between the location and type of reference passed the client software, e.g. browser

Skills required

Medium skill
Attacker identifies known local files to exploit

Consequences

What a successful attack can lead to
Impact	Affects	Note
Read Data	Confidentiality
Modify Data	Integrity

Mitigations

Implementation: Ensure all content that is delivered to client is sanitized against an acceptable content specification.
Implementation: Ensure all configuration files and resource are either removed or protected when promoting code into production.
Design: Use browser technologies that do not allow client side scripting.
Implementation: Perform input validation for all remote content.
Implementation: Perform output validation for all remote content.
Implementation: Disable scripting languages such as JavaScript in browser

Weaknesses it exploits

CWE-241 Improper Handling of Unexpected Data Type
CWE-706 Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference

Recent CVEs with these weaknesses

6.5CVE-2026-184842026-11-08
IBM ContextForge MCP Gateway 1.0.0 through 1.0.11 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to cause a denial of service due to improper slug normalization causing tool name collisions.
9.6CVE-2026-1212002026-11-03
Incorrect reference resolution in DevTools in Google Chrome prior to 157.0.8103.38 allowed a remote attacker leveraging social engineering to potentially execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium securit…
8.1CVE-2026-1211332026-11-03
Incorrect reference resolution in Images in Google Chrome on on Mac prior to 157.0.8103.38 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via crafted network traffic. (Chrom…
5.2CVE-2026-1196752026-11-03
MongoDB Database Tools mongorestore inconsistently handles the system.buckets. prefix when validating collection names in an untrusted dump. A specially crafted collection name can bypass special-collection guards and operator namespace fi…
8.8CVE-2026-1189382026-10-30
In Trail of Bits fickling through 0.1.12, a pickle STACK_GLOBAL operand carrying a dotted __qualname__ (for example "Values.read_file") is resolved by pickle's find_class through _getattribute to an arbitrary attribute path rather than to …
8.8CVE-2026-1192702026-10-30
Incorrect reference resolution in CacheStorage in Google Chrome prior to 156.0.8078.79 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to obtain sensitive information via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity:…
8.8CVE-2026-1192662026-10-30
Incorrect reference resolution in Quota in Google Chrome prior to 156.0.8078.79 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to potentially execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium…
8.8CVE-2026-1192652026-10-30
Incorrect reference resolution in Quota in Google Chrome prior to 156.0.8078.79 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via crafted network traffic. (Chromium securit…

The newest records naming one of them. Each weakness's page lists them all.

Part of: CAPEC-212 Functionality Misuse

Examples

J2EE applications frequently use .properties files to store configuration information including JDBC connecti…

J2EE applications frequently use .properties files to store configuration information including JDBC connections, LDAP connection strings, proxy information, system passwords and other system metadata that is valuable to attackers looking to probe the system or bypass policy enforcement points. When these files are stored in publicly accessible directories and are allowed to be read by the public user, then an attacker can list the directory identify a .properties file and simply load its contents in the browser listing its contents. A standard Hibernate properties file contains

hibernate.connection.driver_class = org.postgresql.Driver
hibernate.connection.url = jdbc:postgresql://localhost/mydatabase
hibernate.connection.username = username
hibernate.connection.password = password
hibernate.c3p0.min_size=5
hibernate.c3p0.max_size=20

Even if the attacker cannot write this file, there is plenty of information to leverage to gain further access.

MITRE's words, unchanged: CAPEC-48 at MITRE. CAPEC is Copyright © 2007–2026, The MITRE Corporation, used under the CAPEC terms of use: “The MITRE Corporation (MITRE) hereby grants you a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC™) for research, development, and commercial purposes. Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE’s copyright designation and this license in any such copy.” CAPEC and the CAPEC logo are trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Credits. All attack patterns.