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TI-2026-56038 Aliases CVE-2026-81028GHSA-4j5x-jgmh-j582

ZLMediaKit downloadFile Root-Directory Confinement Bypass via Prefix Collision

Priority LOW 31CWE-22Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Impact type
Information disclosure
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · None · None
Fix status
No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-22 and the CVSS impact.

Summary

ZLMediaKit confines the downloadFile API to a configured set of root directories with a prefix comparison that does not account for directory boundaries. The configuration loader in server/WebApi.cpp builds each root with File::absolutePath("", item, true); because the relative-path argument is empty that helper returns the value without a trailing separator. The handler then accepts a requested path when start_with(file_path, root) holds, so a sibling directory whose name merely begins with the configured root string satisfies the test and is served. The only other guard rejects a path containing two dots, which this requires none of. The equivalent confinement check for the ordinary static file server in src/Http/HttpFileManager.cpp computes its root with a non-empty second argument, which appends the separator before comparing, and so is not affected. The endpoint requires the configured API secret, so this grants no privilege beyond what that secret already implies, but it reads files outside the directory the operator confined it to, and the reference container runs the server as root.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00515 44th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet

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

No affected products listed by the sources yet.

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-81028
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-4j5x-jgmh-j582

References

  • TI-2026-27356 ZLMediaKit VP9 RTP Parser Out-of-Bounds Read CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2023-15246 ZLMediaKit 4.0 is vulnerable to Directory Traversal. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2022-17354 An attacker can send malicious RTMP requests to make the ZLMediaKit server crash remotely. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2023-20282 Cross Site Scripting vulnerability in ZLMediaKiet v.4.0 and v.5.0 allows an attacker to… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.1

Sources