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CVE-2026-41205 — mako

Fix: sqlalchemy/mako@e05ac61

CVE-2026-41205 is a Path Traversal vulnerability in mako. A fix is available for mako — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Mako: Path traversal via double-slash URI prefix in TemplateLookup

Also known asGHSA-v92g-xgxw-vvmmPYSEC-2026-88
Published
Apr 23, 2026
Updated
Aug 12, 2026
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Sep 23, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

  • CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-41205.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs30th percentile — riskier than 30% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
🐍mako

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Summary

TemplateLookup.get_template() is vulnerable to path traversal when a URI starts with // (e.g., //../../../secret.txt). The root cause is an inconsistency between two slash-stripping implementations:

  • Template.__init__ strips one leading / using if/slice
  • TemplateLookup.get_template() strips all leading / using re.sub(r"^\/+", "")

When a URI like //../../../../etc/passwd is passed:

  1. get_template() strips all / → ../../../../etc/passwd → file found via posixpath.join(dir_, u)
  2. Template.__init__ strips one / → /../../../../etc/passwd → normpath → /etc/passwd
  3. /etc/passwd.startswith(..) → False → check bypassed

Impact

Arbitrary file read: any file readable by the process can be returned as rendered template content when an application passes untrusted input directly to TemplateLookup.get_template().

Note: this is exploitable at the library API level. HTTP-based exploitation is mitigated by Python's BaseHTTPRequestHandler which normalizes double-slash prefixes since CPython gh-87389. Applications using other HTTP servers that do not normalize paths may be affected.

Fix

Changed Template.__init__ to use lstrip("/") instead of stripping only a single leading slash, so both code paths handle leading slashes consistently.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐍PyPImakoall versions1.3.11pip install --upgrade 'mako==1.3.11'

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency
  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for mako, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update mako to 1.3.11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-41205 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

  4. How O3 protects you

    O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-41205 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to CVE-2026-41205. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Summary `TemplateLookup.get_template()` is vulnerable to path traversal when a URI starts with `//` (e.g., `//../../../secret.txt`). The root cause is an inconsistency between two slash-stripping implementations: - `Template.__init__` strips **one** leading `/` using `if`/slice - `TemplateLookup.get_template()` strips **all** leading `/` using `re.sub(r"^\/+", "")` When a URI like `//../../../../etc/passwd` is passed: 1. `get_template()` strips all `/` → `../../../../etc/passwd` → file found via `posixpath.join(dir_, u)` 2. `Template.__init__` strips one `/` → `/../../../../etc/passwd`
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2026-41205 in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds CVE-2026-41205 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.

CVE-2026-41205: mako Path Traversal | O3 Security