CVE-2026-48126

HIGH

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

Title source: cna
STIX 2.1

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.

References (1)

Core 1
Core References

Scores

CVSS v3 8.2
EPSS 0.0034
EPSS Percentile 25.1%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation poc
Automatable yes
Technical Impact partial

Details

CWE
CWE-22 CWE-23 CWE-644
Status published
Products (1)
xyproto/algernon < 1.17.8
Published May 26, 2026
Tracked Since May 26, 2026