CVE-2026-54706VulnerabilityPublished 31 Jul 2026

Onionshare cli: OnionShare follows symlinks

Affects onionshare-cliSource GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.8 Medium : upgrade to 2.6.4 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.8Medium

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 27% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 2.6.4

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
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: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
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: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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: None: There is no loss of integrity within 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 31 Jul 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 29 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 onionshare-cli to 2.6.4.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
PyPIonionshare-cli	Affected <2.6.4	Fixed in 2.6.4

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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

CWE-59Improper Link Resolution Before File Access (Link Following) (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.
Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege
Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Symlink Attack (opens in a new tab)
Using Malicious Files (opens in a new tab)
Leverage Executable Code in Non-Executable Files (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (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

WeaknessesCWE-59

Technical details

References

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