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Onionshare cli: OnionShare follows symlinks in shared directories, allowing unintended disclosure of local files (CVE-2026-54706)

0
Medium
Published: 07/31/2026 (07/31/2026, 16:31:37 UTC)
Source: GCVE Database
Product: onionshare-cli

Description

### Summary OnionShare CLI/Desktop 2.6.3 can follow symbolic links inside a selected Share or Website directory and serve the symlink target rather than limiting access to files physically contained in the selected directory. If a user shares a directory that contains attacker-supplied or otherwise untrusted symlinks, a remote recipient with access to the OnionShare service can read arbitrary local files readable by the OnionShare process that the symlink points to. This affects the shipped `onionshare-cli` Python package and the desktop application because both call the same `onionshare_cli.web` file-indexing and streaming code. ### Details Tested repository: `https://github.com/onionshare/onionshare` at commit `8cc75e1d7e88bd31f7276733449d412bf71c8999`. Affected product evidence: - `cli/pyproject.toml` declares `onionshare_cli` version `2.6.3`. - `desktop/pyproject.toml` declares `onionshare` version `2.6.3` and depends on `onionshare_cli` from `../cli`. - `cli/setup.py` publishes `onionshare-cli` and includes `onionshare_cli.web` plus templates/static resources. - `desktop/setup.py` publishes `onionshare` and exposes both `onionshare` and `onionshare-cli` console scripts. Reachable default/common paths: - CLI share mode is the default mode when no `--receive`, `--website`, or `--chat` flag is provided (`cli/onionshare_cli/__init__.py:234-241`) and accepts filesystem paths from CLI arguments (`cli/onionshare_cli/__init__.py:184-189`). - CLI website mode is exposed through `--website` (`cli/onionshare_cli/__init__.py:55-59`). - Desktop Website mode calls `self.web.website_mode.set_file_info(self.filenames)` before starting (`desktop/onionshare/tab/mode/website_mode/__init__.py:281-287`). Desktop Share mode calls `self.mode.web.share_mode.set_file_info(...)` before serving (`desktop/onionshare/tab/mode/share_mode/threads.py:42-49`). - Documentation describes Website mode as selecting files/folders and serving them over OnionShare (`docs/source/features.rst:109-115`). Root cause: - `SendBaseModeWeb.set_file_info()` expands a single selected directory into immediate children and records `os.path.isfile()` entries without rejecting symlinks (`cli/onionshare_cli/web/send_base_mode.py:73-80`, `cli/onionshare_cli/web/send_base_mode.py:100-130`). On POSIX, `os.path.isfile()` follows a symlink to a regular file. - Website mode serves any mapped file path through `stream_individual_file()` (`cli/onionshare_cli/web/website_mode.py:71-97`). `stream_individual_file()` opens the mapped filesystem path directly (`cli/onionshare_cli/web/send_base_mode.py:199-313`, especially `open(file_to_download, "rb")` at line 237). - Share mode default `/download` can include a symlink target when a single selected folder is expanded into root entries and `ZipWriter.add_file()` calls `self.z.write(filename, ...)` without rejecting symlinks (`cli/onionshare_cli/web/share_mode.py:473-539`, `cli/onionshare_cli/web/share_mode.py:574-580`). - Share mode with `--no-autostop-sharing` enables individual file downloads (`cli/onionshare_cli/web/share_mode.py:122-125`) and reaches the same direct streaming sink (`cli/onionshare_cli/web/share_mode.py:430-447`). - A partial mitigation exists only for recursive ZIP directory traversal: `ZipWriter.add_dir()` skips `os.path.islink(full_filename)` (`cli/onionshare_cli/web/share_mode.py:582-600`). That mitigation does not cover Website mode, Share individual downloads, or Share ZIP generation for root-level symlinks after the single-folder expansion path. False-positive screening performed: - URL path traversal without a mapped entry returned 404; the issue is not raw `../` traversal but symlink following after a selected directory has been indexed. - Jinja/template escaping and CSP do not mitigate this because the sink is file read/streaming. - Share mode has a symlink skip in recursive ZIP addition, but local PoC confirmed sibling paths still dereference symlinks. - The default non-public onion service requires the recipient to know the onion address and private key unless the user opts into public mode; this limits exposure but does not prevent disclosure to an authorized recipient or to anyone with the URL/key. Affected versions / patched versions: - Affected versions: unknown; confirmed in version `2.6.3` at commit `8cc75e1d7e88bd31f7276733449d412bf71c8999`. Earlier versions were not tested during this audit. - Patched versions: 2.6.4 Severity: - Rationale: `AV:N` because the file is exposed over the OnionShare HTTP service; `AC:H` because exploitation requires the victim to share a directory containing an attacker-influenced or untrusted symlink to a sensitive local file; `PR:L` because the attacker generally needs the OnionShare URL/private key unless the user intentionally runs public mode; `UI:R` because the OnionShare user must select/start sharing the affected directory; `S:U` because the same local process reads and serves the file; `C:H` because the symlink can point at high-value

CVSS v3.1

Score 4.8medium

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected software

PyPIghsa
onionshare-cli
Affected versions
<2.6.4

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Technical Details

Gcve Source
db.gcve.eu
Osv Id
GHSA-22p9-r2f5-22mf
Osv Schema Version
1.4.0
Aliases
["CVE-2026-54706"]
Ecosystems
["PyPI"]
Database Specific Severity
MODERATE
Cvss Version
3.1

Threat ID: 6a6cf7f2bf32cb7a342b4071

Added to database: 07/31/2026, 19:30:58 UTC

Last updated: 07/31/2026, 19:30:58 UTC

Views: 1

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