VulnerabilityPublished 25 Feb 2026

CVE-2026-26985: aces Loris · Path Traversal

Affects aces LorisSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.1 High : upgrade to 27.0.2 or 26.0.5 soon.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.1High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 32% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 27.0.2, 26.0.5, 28.0.0

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 25 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by 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 30 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade Loris to 27.0.2 or 26.0.5; aces/Loris to 28.0.0, 27.0.2 or 26.0.5.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
acesLoris	Affected >=27.0.0 <27.0.2	Fixed in 27.0.2
acesLoris	Affected >=24.0.0 <26.0.5	Fixed in 26.0.5
GitHubaces/Loris`pkg:github/aces/Loris`Other threats	Affected <26.0.5 <27.0.2 >=26.0.5 <28.0.0 >=27.0.2	Fixed in 26.0.5 27.0.2 28.0.0

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

AI-suggested

Upgrade LORIS to version 26.0.5, 27.0.2, 28.0.0, or later where the vulnerability is patched.
Until patching is possible, disable the electrophysiogy_browser module via the LORIS module manager to block the vulnerable functionality.
Review and rotate all hard-coded credentials found in configuration files to unique, strong passwords or preferably replace them with environment variables or secure vault solutions to avoid hard-coding secrets.
Implement strict access controls and monitoring on authenticated user accounts, especially those with permissions to access sensitive modules, to detect and prevent misuse.
Conduct regular audits of file access logs to identify suspicious attempts to access configuration files or other restricted resources.
Employ network segmentation and least privilege principles to limit the impact of compromised credentials.
Educate users about the importance of safeguarding credentials and monitoring for unusual activity.
Consider deploying web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block path traversal attempts targeting LORIS endpoints.

Description

LORIS (Longitudinal Online Research and Imaging System) is a self-hosted web application that provides data- and project-management for neuroimaging research. Starting in version 24.0.0 and prior to versions 26.0.5, 27.0.2, and 28.0.0, an authenticated user with the appropriate authorization can read configuration files on the server by exploiting a path traversal vulnerability. Some of these files contain hard-coded credentials. The vulnerability allows an attacker to read configuration files containing hard-coded credentials. The attacker could then authenticate to the database or other services if those credentials are reused. The attacker must be authenticated and have the required permissions. However, the vulnerability is easy to exploit and the application source code is public. This problem is fixed in LORIS v26.0.5 and v27.0.2 and above, and v28.0.0 and above. As a workaround, the electrophysiogy_browser in LORIS can be disabled by an administrator using the module manager.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-26985 is unauthorized disclosure of sensitive configuration files containing hard-coded credentials. This can lead to credential compromise, allowing attackers to authenticate to backend databases or services, potentially resulting in data breaches, unauthorized data manipulation, or lateral movement within the affected environment. For organizations relying on LORIS for neuroimaging research data management, this could mean exposure of sensitive research data, intellectual property, or personally identifiable information (PII) of research subjects. The integrity of research data could also be compromised if attackers leverage stolen credentials to alter data or configurations. Although availability is not directly impacted, the breach of confidentiality and integrity can have severe operational and reputational consequences. Since exploitation requires authentication and specific permissions, the risk is somewhat mitigated by internal access controls; however, insider threats or compromised user accounts could easily exploit this vulnerability. The ease of exploitation and public availability of source code increase the likelihood of exploitation attempts once credentials are obtained or insider access is gained.

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (Path Traversal) (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #6OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Path Traversal (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 25 Feb 2026, 22:10 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-22

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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