CVE-2026-102598 is a vulnerability in the Werkzeug WSGI web application library prior to version 3.1.9. It involves improper handling of Windows device names in the safe_join function used by send_from_directory. On Windows systems with NTFS, a user-supplied path ending with a special device name such as NUL: and an empty NTFS alternate data stream (ADS) marker can cause the application to open the special device. This results in the file read operation hanging indefinitely. The issue is fixed in Werkzeug version 3.1.9.
On Windows, PHP's filesystem and stream APIs do not reject reserved device names such as CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1 to COM9, LPT1 to LPT9, CONIN$ and CONOUT$ when they appear as a component of a path. An attacker-controlled filename therefore reaches CreateFileW() and opens a device instead of the regular file the application expected, which can block or hang the request and exhaust worker processes.
Werkzeug is a comprehensive WSGI web application library. Versions 3.1.5 and below, the safe_join function allows Windows device names as filenames if preceded by other path segments. This was previously reported as GHSA-hgf8-39gv-g3f2, but the added filtering failed to account for the fact that safe_join accepts paths with multiple segments, such as example/NUL. The function send_from_directory uses safe_join to safely serve files at user-specified paths under a directory. If the application is running on Windows, and the requested path ends with a special device name, the file will be opened successfully, but reading will hang indefinitely. This issue has been fixed in version 3.1.6.
Werkzeug's `safe_join` function allows path segments with Windows device names that have file extensions or trailing spaces. On Windows, there are special device names such as `CON`, `AUX`, etc that are implicitly present and readable in every directory. Windows still accepts them with any file extension, such as `CON.txt`, or trailing spaces such as `CON `.
This was previously reported as https://github.com/pallets/werkzeug/security/advisories/GHSA-hgf8-39gv-g3f2, but the fix failed to account for compound extensions such as `CON.txt.html` or trailing spaces. It also missed some additional special names.
`send_from_directory` uses `safe_join` to safely serve files at user-specified paths under a directory. If the application is running on Windows, and the requested path ends with a special device name, the file will be opened successfully, but reading will hang indefinitely.
Werkzeug is a comprehensive WSGI web application library. Prior to version 3.1.4, Werkzeug's safe_join function allows path segments with Windows device names. On Windows, there are special device names such as CON, AUX, etc that are implicitly present and readable in every directory.send_from_directory uses safe_join to safely serve files at user-specified paths under a directory. If the application is running on Windows, and the requested path ends with a special device name, the file will be opened successfully, but reading will hang indefinitely. This issue has been patched in version 3.1.4.