Arbitrary File Read Vulnerability in Vite (CVE-2025-31125)

About the Author Hi, I'm Sharon, a product manager at Chaitin Tech. We build SafeLine, an open-source Web Application Firewall that protects against real-world web threats like injections, web shells, and bot attacks. Our emergency response team also tracks non-HTTP vulnerabilities that impact frontend and dev environments like this one. Vite is a modern frontend build tool designed to provide a fast development server and optimized build process, widely used in JavaScript and TypeScript web development. In March 2025, security researchers at Chaitin Tech discovered a high-risk arbitrary file read vulnerability in Vite. The vulnerability was immediately reported to regulatory authorities. The Vite team has since released patches to fix this issue (CVE-2025-31125). The vulnerability allows attackers to bypass Vite’s file access restrictions and read arbitrary files on the server by crafting special URLs. While it requires specific server configurations to exploit, its impact could be widespread due to Vite’s popularity among frontend frameworks. Affected users are strongly urged to patch as soon as possible. Vulnerability Description Root Cause The vulnerability is caused by flaws in Vite’s regular expression and URL parameter handling when processing URLs with specific query strings. This leads to a bypass of file access control checks. Attackers can craft malicious request paths to access files outside the allowed scope. Exploitation Requirements The Vite development server must be exposed to the network using the --host or server.host configuration (default is localhost-only). Impact Arbitrary File Read: Attackers can read sensitive files on the server (e.g., config files, key files), which may lead to credential leaks or further security threats. Risk Overview Category Details Priority High Vulnerability Type Logical flaw Severity High Trigger Remote over network Authentication Not required System Config Non-default (Vite server exposed publicly) User Interaction Not required Exploit Availability Public PoC/EXP available Fix Complexity Low (official patches available) Affected Versions Vite 6.2.0 – 6.2.3 Vite 6.1.0 – 6.1.2 Vite 6.0.0 – 6.0.12 Vite 5.0.0 – 5.4.15 Vite

Jun 5, 2025 - 06:30

Arbitrary File Read Vulnerability in Vite (CVE-2025-31125)

About the Author

Hi, I'm Sharon, a product manager at Chaitin Tech. We build SafeLine, an open-source Web Application Firewall that protects against real-world web threats like injections, web shells, and bot attacks. Our emergency response team also tracks non-HTTP vulnerabilities that impact frontend and dev environments like this one.

Vite is a modern frontend build tool designed to provide a fast development server and optimized build process, widely used in JavaScript and TypeScript web development.

In March 2025, security researchers at Chaitin Tech discovered a high-risk arbitrary file read vulnerability in Vite. The vulnerability was immediately reported to regulatory authorities. The Vite team has since released patches to fix this issue (CVE-2025-31125). The vulnerability allows attackers to bypass Vite’s file access restrictions and read arbitrary files on the server by crafting special URLs. While it requires specific server configurations to exploit, its impact could be widespread due to Vite’s popularity among frontend frameworks. Affected users are strongly urged to patch as soon as possible.

Vulnerability Description

Root Cause

The vulnerability is caused by flaws in Vite’s regular expression and URL parameter handling when processing URLs with specific query strings. This leads to a bypass of file access control checks. Attackers can craft malicious request paths to access files outside the allowed scope.

Exploitation Requirements

The Vite development server must be exposed to the network using the --host or server.host configuration (default is localhost-only).

Impact

Arbitrary File Read: Attackers can read sensitive files on the server (e.g., config files, key files), which may lead to credential leaks or further security threats.

Risk Overview

Category	Details
Priority	High
Vulnerability Type	Logical flaw
Severity	High
Trigger	Remote over network
Authentication	Not required
System Config	Non-default (Vite server exposed publicly)
User Interaction	Not required
Exploit Availability	Public PoC/EXP available
Fix Complexity	Low (official patches available)

Affected Versions

Vite 6.2.0 – 6.2.3
Vite 6.1.0 – 6.1.2
Vite 6.0.0 – 6.0.12
Vite 5.0.0 – 5.4.15
Vite <= 4.5.10

Mitigation & Fixes

Temporary Workarounds

If you cannot upgrade immediately:

Restrict Network Access: Set --host or server.host to localhost to prevent external exposure.
Enforce File Permissions: Ensure sensitive files cannot be read by the Vite process (via OS-level permission controls).

Official Patch

The Vite team has released patched versions:

6.2.4, 6.1.3, 6.0.13, 5.4.16, 4.5.11

Update via npm update vite or upgrade manually.

Reproduction

Product Support

Product	Detection Capability
Yuntu	Supports fingerprinting and PoC detection
Dongjian	Will support detection in upcoming 4.2 release
SafeLine	Custom rules released to detect this vulnerability
Quanxi	Rule upgrade package released