Vulnerability · Published Aug 9, 2025 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2025-55149Path Traversal Vulnerability in PDF Review Function (CWE-22)
Medium 6.7
In plain English
A medium-severity path traversal in tiny-scientist from ulab-uiuc. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.7% (higher than 54% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official description
Tiny-Scientist is a lightweight framework for automating the entire lifecycle of scientific research—from ideation to implementation, writing, and review. In versions 0.1.1 and below, a critical path traversal vulnerability has been identified in the review_paper function in backend/app.py. The vulnerability allows malicious users to access arbitrary PDF files on the server by providing crafted file paths that bypass the intended security restrictions. This vulnerability allows attackers to: read any PDF file accessible to the server process, potentially access sensitive documents outside the intended directory and perform reconnaissance on the server's file system structure. This issue does not currently have a fix.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| PyPI | tiny-scientist | no fix listed | GHSA-rrgf-hcr9-jq6h |
| PyPI | tiny-scientist | no fix listed | PYSEC-2026-1967 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| ulab-uiuc | tiny-scientist | <= 0.1.1 |
Weakness: CWE-22 · Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U