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CVE-2026-118485VulnerabilityPublished

Axel Download Accelerator 2.17.14 and earlier performs URL percent-decoding (http_decode()) on the output filename

Affects axelSource GCVE Database

0
Authoritative record:CVE-2026-118485· High 7.0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.0 High.

Data as of 28 Oct 2026, 13:29 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score
7.0High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 28 Oct 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
GitHubaxel-download-accelerator/axelpkg:github/axel-download-accelerator/axelOther threatsAffected
  • <=2.17.14
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Until a fix is available, users should avoid downloading files from untrusted sources using affected versions and consider running Axel in restricted environments or with limited permissions to reduce potential impact.

Description

Axel Download Accelerator versions 2.17.14 and earlier contain a directory traversal vulnerability due to improper URL percent-decoding of the output filename. This allows attackers to craft URLs with encoded sequences that traverse directories, causing the program to write downloaded files to arbitrary filesystem locations relative to the current working directory.

References

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