GHSA-365w-hqf6-vxfg
CRITICALGHSA-365w-hqf6-vxfg is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Path Traversal vulnerability in crawl4ai. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-365w-hqf6-vxfg is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Crawl4AI: Multiple Docker API Vulnerabilities - File Write, SSRF, Auth Bypass, XSS, JS Execution
Real-World Exposure
crawl4aiReal-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
Multiple security vulnerabilities in the Crawl4AI Docker API server affecting endpoints for crawling, markdown/LLM extraction, screenshots, PDFs, webhooks, monitoring, JavaScript execution, and configuration.
Vulnerabilities
1. Arbitrary File Write via /screenshot and /pdf (CWE-22, CVSS 9.1)
The output_path parameter accepts arbitrary filesystem paths with no validation. An attacker can overwrite server files (DoS) or write to any appuser-writable location.
Fix: Added validate_output_path() restricting writes to CRAWL4AI_OUTPUT_DIR (/tmp/crawl4ai-outputs by default). Added Pydantic field_validator rejecting .. traversal sequences.
2. SSRF via Webhook URL (CWE-918, CVSS 8.6)
Webhook URLs in /crawl/job and /llm/job accept internal/private IPs with no validation, enabling Server-Side Request Forgery against cloud metadata endpoints (169.254.169.254), internal services, and Docker networks.
Fix: Added validate_webhook_url() with blocklist for RFC 1918, loopback, link-local, cloud metadata IPs and hostnames. Validation at both job submission and send time. Explicit follow_redirects=False.
3. Authentication Bypass on Monitor Endpoints (CWE-306, CVSS 6.5)
The monitor router was mounted without token_dep dependency, making all monitoring endpoints (including destructive ones like /monitor/actions/cleanup) accessible without authentication.
Fix: Added dependencies=[Depends(token_dep)] to monitor router. Added explicit token check on WebSocket /monitor/ws endpoint.
4. Stored XSS in Monitor Dashboard (CWE-79, CVSS 6.1)
URLs and error messages rendered in the monitor dashboard via innerHTML without escaping, enabling stored XSS via crafted crawl URLs.
Fix: Server-side html.escape() on URL and error storage. Client-side escapeHtml() wrapper on all innerHTML template injections.
5. Arbitrary JavaScript Execution via /execute_js (CWE-94, CVSS 8.1)
The /execute_js endpoint accepts and executes arbitrary JavaScript in the server's browser with --disable-web-security enabled, combining arbitrary JS execution with SSRF capability.
Fix: Disabled by default via CRAWL4AI_EXECUTE_JS_ENABLED env var. Added SSRF blocklist on destination URL. Removed --disable-web-security from default browser args.
6. Hardcoded JWT Secret Key (CWE-798, CVSS 9.8)
The JWT signing key defaults to "mysecret" in the public source code, allowing anyone to forge valid authentication tokens.
Fix: Removed default value. Added startup validation rejecting weak/short secrets. Auto-generates ephemeral key when JWT enabled but no key set.
7. SSRF via Direct Crawl Endpoints /crawl, /md, /llm (CWE-918, CVSS 8.6)
The primary crawl entry points (/crawl, /crawl/stream, /md, /llm) fetch arbitrary user-supplied URLs with no destination validation, enabling Server-Side Request Forgery against internal services, Docker networks, and cloud metadata endpoints (169.254.169.254). A blocklist that only inspects the literal hostname is additionally bypassable via IPv6-mapped IPv4 addresses (e.g. [::ffff:169.254.169.254], [::ffff:10.0.0.1]), which resolve to the blocked private/metadata ranges but evade a naive string check.
Fix: Added URL destination validation on all crawl/md/llm entry points, reusing the SSRF blocklist (RFC 1918, loopback, link-local, cloud-metadata IPs and hostnames). IPv6-mapped IPv4 addresses are normalized to their IPv4 form before the blocklist check, closing the mapping bypass. raw:// URLs are skipped. Validation applies at request entry, not only at fetch time.
Workarounds
- Upgrade to the patched version (recommended)
- Set
CRAWL4AI_API_TOKENto enable authentication - Set a strong
SECRET_KEY(min 32 chars) if using JWT - Restrict network access to the Docker API
Credits
- Jeongbean Jeon - file write, SSRF, monitor auth bypass, stored XSS
- wulonchia - file write via output_path (independent report)
- by111 (August829) - hardcoded JWT, eval in /config/dump, /execute_js, hook sandbox escape
- secsys_codex - SSRF via /md, /crawl, /llm endpoints + IPv6-mapped IPv4 bypass (URL destination validation)
- Velayutham Selvaraj (LinkedIn) - SSRF via missing host validation in validate_url_scheme (independent report)
- IcySun & Yashon - SSRF, arbitrary file write, missing-auth-by-default, hook sandbox bypass via asyncio (independent report)
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | crawl4ai | all versions | 0.8.7 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for crawl4ai. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update crawl4ai to 0.8.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-365w-hqf6-vxfg is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
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.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-365w-hqf6-vxfg is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-365w-hqf6-vxfg. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-365w-hqf6-vxfg in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-365w-hqf6-vxfg across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.