CVE-2026-48126

Algernon: Host header path traversal in --domain mode reads files and runs Lua from parent dir

HIGH
8.2
CVSS Score
Published: May 26, 2026 at 04:44 PM UTC
Updated: July 24, 2026 at 11:23 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorAlgernon

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Severity
HIGH8.2
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
PoC

Description

Algernon is a small self-contained pure-Go web server. Prior to 1.17.8, when algernon is started with --domain (or --letsencrypt, which silently turns on --domain at engine/flags.go:372), the request handler resolves the served directory by joining the configured --dir with the value of the client-supplied Host header. The join is performed by filepath.Join with no validation, so a Host: .. header walks one level above the document root. Subsequent file resolution then exposes everything in that parent directory — arbitrary file read, full directory listing, and, if any .lua file is present, server-side Lua execution. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.17.8.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 1.17.8
Affected range stops below 1.17.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

References (1)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCPoCAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

8.2HIGHGitHub_M
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-22CWE-23CWE-644

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