KeyView 23.4

# Sanitize Absolute Paths

When you extract a subfile from a container and write it to disk, you specify an extract directory and a path to extract the file to.

To set the path, you might use the path in the container file that you are extracting from, as returned from the `Filter.extGetSubFileInfo()` method. However, if the path is an absolute path, the file could be created outside the directory you have chosen as the extract directory. Your application might then contain a vulnerability that could be exploited to write files to unexpected locations in the file system. This section discusses some KeyView features that can help you secure your application by sanitizing paths.

KeyView always sanitizes relative paths that you pass in when extracting files, so that the paths remain within the extract directory you specify. For example, KeyView does not allow the use of "`..`" to move outside the extract directory.

KeyView can update absolute paths so that they remain within the extract directory. You can instruct KeyView to sanitize absolute paths programmatically (through the API), or by setting a parameter in the configuration file.

The following table shows the effect on some example paths.

Requested path | Path of extracted file (not sanitized) | Path of extracted file (sanitized)
--- | --- | ---
`file.txt` | `extractDir/file.txt` | `extractDir/file.txt`
`dir/file.txt` | `extractDir/dir/file.txt` | `extractDir/dir/file.txt`
`../file.txt` | `extractDir/file.txt` | `extractDir/file.txt`
`/dir/file.txt` | `/dir/file.txt` | `extractDir/dir/file.txt`

To sanitize absolute paths

- Call the method `setSanitizeAbsolutePaths` on the `ExtSubFileExtractConfig` that you pass in to `extExtractSubFile`. When KeyView sanitizes a path and the resulting directory does not exist, extraction fails unless you instruct KeyView to create the directory, so you might also want to call the method `setCreateDirectory`. You can find the path that a file was actually extracted to from the `ExtSubFileExtractInfo` object that is returned from the `extExtractSubFile` method.

To sanitize absolute paths (through configuration)

- In the `formats_e.ini` configuration file, set the parameter `SanitizeAbsoluteExtractPaths`, for example:

      [Options]
      SanitizeAbsoluteExtractPaths=TRUE

Copyright 1997-2023 Open Text
Version 23.4 | Last updated September 2023

Send documentation feedback

Close

Send documentation feedback

To send feedback using your default email client, open an email window.

Otherwise, send your feedback and the information below to swpdl.idoldocsfeedback@microfocus.com.

We appreciate your feedback!

Product: IDOL KeyView 23.4

Topic Title: Sanitize Absolute Paths