CVE-2026-71209 Path traversal in audiobookshelf
Attackers can bypass authentication regex checks using encoded slashes to perform path traversal and read arbitrary files from the server.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-71209?
CVE-2026-71209 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in advplyr audiobookshelf, published on 5 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
audiobookshelf's authentication-exemption check (server/routers/Auth.js) matches unauthenticated-allowed GET routes against req.path via a regex requiring a literal /items/:id/cover or /authors/:id/image shape, where req.path retains %2F sequences URL-encoded. CacheManager.handleCoverCache then joins this decoded value into a cache file path and streams the result before any database-backed ownership check.
Weakness: CWE-22
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-71209?
How do I fix CVE-2026-71209?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-71209 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-2026-71209 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-71209 exists.
Public exploit code: 1 Nuclei template.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-8885-9f28-m6p3.