# CVE-2026-53452: Ground Station: Unauthenticated out-of-containment file read via `sigmfplayback` `recordingPath`

> Unauthenticated attackers can read arbitrary JSON files outside the intended directory via path traversal in the SDR playback feature.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 25 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-g344-jqcx-cr7q

## What is CVE-2026-53452?

CVE-2026-53452 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in sgoudelis ground-station, published on 19 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Ground Station is a browser-based suite for satellite tracking, SDR reception, hardware control, and telemetry decoding. Prior to version 0.4.13, the unauthenticated configure-sdr Socket.IO command accepts a recordingPath for the sigmf-playback SDR and backend/handlers/entities/sdr.py stores it without validation before backend/hardware/sigmfprobe.py opens the path without enforcing containment. An absolute path or parent-directory escape ending in .sigmf-meta is parsed as JSON and returned in reply["data"]["metadata"] by the get-sdr-parameters flow. Exploitation requires the metadata file to be readable JSON and to have a sibling .sigmf-data file, but it can disclose contents outside backend/data/recordings without authentication. This issue is fixed in version 0.4.13.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory), CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53452?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-53452?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-53452 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-53452 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-53452 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-53452 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53452 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in sgoudelis ground-station, published on 19 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-53452 exists.

Affected product: sgoudelis ground-station. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53452/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53452/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53452
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53452
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53452

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53452/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.