changedetection.io Vulnerable to Improper Input Validation Leading to LFR/Path TraversalGHSA-j5vv-6wjg-cfr8
HIGHFix: dgtlmoon/changedetection.io@4419bc0GHSA-j5vv-6wjg-cfr8 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.6) Path Traversal vulnerability in changedetection-io. A fix is available for changedetection-io — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-j5vv-6wjg-cfr8.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
changedetection-ioReal-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
Improper input validation in the application can allow attackers to perform local file read (LFR) or path traversal attacks. These vulnerabilities occur when user input is used to construct file paths without adequate sanitization or validation. For example, using file:../../../etc/passwd or file: ///etc/passwd can bypass weak validations and allow unauthorized access to sensitive files. Even though this has been addressed in previous patch, it is still insufficient.
Details
The check in this line of code is insufficient.
if re.search(r'^file:/', url.strip(), re.IGNORECASE):
The attacker can still bypass this by using:
-file:../../../../etc/passwd
-file: ///etc/passwd (with space before /)
PoC
- Open up a changedetection.io instance with a webdriver configured.
- Create a new watch with
file:../../../../etc/passwd. - Check the watch preview.
- The contents of
/etc/passwdshould pop out.
Screenshots
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | changedetection-io | all versions | 0.48.05pip install --upgrade 'changedetection-io==0.48.05' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for changedetection-io, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update changedetection-io to 0.48.05 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-j5vv-6wjg-cfr8 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-j5vv-6wjg-cfr8 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.