Microsoft Kiota resolved OpenAPI $refs by fetching remote http(s) URLs and reading local files
(including absolute / out-of-tree paths), inlining the referenced schema into the generated client.
Running kiota generate on a spec whose $ref pointed at an attacker/internal URL or an arbitrary
local file yielded SSRF, remote file inclusion, and local file inclusion. Verified on 1.32.3 / 1.32.4.
$ref: http://attacker/internal-evil.json#/... → build host fetches the URL (SSRF) and inlines the
remote schema (RFI); confirmed property REMOTE_KIOTA_PROP in the generated client.$ref: /abs/path.json#/... or ../../secret.json#/... → Kiota reads the out-of-tree local file and
inlines its schema (LFI); confirmed Leaked schema in the generated client. Resolution is transitive
across nesting levels.Kiota escapes its output sinks (comments/strings/identifiers), so attacker-controlled remote/local content cannot break out into code — no RCE. The chain stops at SSRF + RFI + LFI.
Build-time SSRF (CWE-918) from the developer or CI host, disclosure of arbitrary local files (CWE-22), and inclusion of untrusted remote content (CWE-829), from running the generator on an attacker-controlled or attacker-influenced OpenAPI description. No code execution. Notable because Kiota is otherwise the hardened generator (it resists the code-injection class).
The relevant threat is not "change the generated output" (an attacker who fully controls the description can already do that) but the side effects on the build host: outbound requests from inside the CI network (cloud metadata, internal-only services) and reads of local files the attacker never possessed, whose contents are then inlined into the generated — and typically committed/published — client. It also bypasses controls that review the description document but not externally-referenced content.
Fixed in 1.32.5...
1.32.51.32.5Exploitability
AV:NAC:LPR:NUI:RScope
S:UImpact
C:HI:LA:N7.1/CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N