CVE-2026-31978 motionEye: Arbitrary File Read via Path Traversal in Picture/Movie Preview Endpoint
An authenticated user can read arbitrary files from the server via path traversal in motionEye's preview endpoints, 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
- Available
What is CVE-2026-31978?
CVE-2026-31978 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in motioneye-project motioneye, published on 24 Jun 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
motionEye (mEye) is an online interface for motion software, which is a video surveillance program with motion detection. Versions prior to 0.44.0 are vulnerable to path traversal in the picture and movie API endpoints, suhc as /picture/{id}/preview/{filename}. Neither the API handlers, nor the mediafiles.py functions such as get_media_preview() check for .. sequences in the filename parameter, except for get_media_content(). This allows an authenticated user with normal (non-admin) privileges to read arbitrary files from the filesystem as the motionEye process user, such as: /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, motionEye config files containing password hashes and plaintext passwords, SSH keys, and other cameras' surveillance footage. This issue has been fixed in version 0.44.0.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-31978?
3 open source packages ship an affected version, including motioneye.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
motioneye PyPI | All versions | 0.44.0 |
motioneye PyPI | All versions | 0.44.0 |
motioneye PyPI | All versions | 0.44.0 |
How do I fix CVE-2026-31978?
Upgrade motioneye to 0.44.0 or later.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-31978 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-31978 exists.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-g9fx-5r4h-pcw3, PYSEC-2026-2664.