Malcolm Vulnerable to Authorization Bypass via URI Normalization Differential in Nginx Lua RBAC
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · Low · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-863.
Summary
Malcolm is a network traffic analysis tool suite. Prior to version 26.07.0, role-based access control enforced in the Nginx OpenResty Lua layer evaluates the raw, unnormalized `ngx.var.request_uri`, while Nginx itself routes requests using the normalized path. An authenticated low-privilege user can prepend a traversal segment (for example `/x/../upload/...`) so that Nginx routes the request to a restricted backend while the Lua role check fails to match any rule and falls open, granting access it should deny. Version 26.07.0 fixes the issue.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Malcolm (cisagov) Fixed in 26.07.0
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-63177
References
More cisagov vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-45069 Malcolm has Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in Archive Extraction (Inode-Exhaustion DoS) CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.1
- TI-2026-15970 Improper handling of highly compressed data (data amplification) in CISA Malcolm CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.1
- TI-2026-45070 Malcolm's Path Traversal in Archive Extraction Allows Arbitrary Directory Creation CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.3
- TI-2026-15969 Incorrect Authorization in CISA Malcolm CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.3
- TI-2026-40197 Malcolm vulnerable to RCE via unrestricted .php upload to the file-upload component CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences