CVE-2026-14904 RES Auth.GetUserPrivateKey Arbitrary File Read
Authenticated users can read arbitrary files on the cluster-manager instance by replacing their SSH key with a symbolic link, exposing sensitive data.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-14904?
CVE-2026-14904 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in AWS res, published on 7 Jul 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
AWS Research and Engineering Studio (RES) is an open-source solution that enables researchers and engineers to create and manage secure virtual desktops and computing resources on AWS.
Improper link resolution before file access issue (CWE-59) in the Auth.GetUserPrivateKey API. An authenticated remote user could read arbitrary files on the cluster-manager EC2 instance by replacing their SSH private key file (~/.ssh/id_rsa) with a symbolic link targeting any file on the host. Because the cluster-manager process runs as root, any file readable by root is exposed, including other users' SSH private keys and application configuration secrets.
It's recommended to upgrade to RES version 2026.06.
Weakness: CWE-59
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-14904?
How do I fix CVE-2026-14904?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-14904 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-14904 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-14904 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-7xcj-pxq8-grgf.