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Path TraversalWeakness · CWE-22

CVE-2026-31978

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-06-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click 8 weeks old

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
motionEye (mEye) is an online interface for motion software, which is a video surveillance program with motion detection. Versions prior to 0.44.0 are vulnerable to path traversal in the picture and movie API endpoints, suhc as /picture/{id}/preview/{filename}. Neither the API handlers, nor the mediafiles.py functions such as get_media_preview() check for .. sequences in the filename parameter, except for get_media_content(). This allows an authenticated user with normal (non-admin) privileges to read arbitrary files from the filesystem as the motionEye process user, such as: /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, motionEye config files containing password hashes and plaintext passwords, SSH keys, and other cameras' surveillance footage. This issue has been fixed in version 0.44.0.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

motionEye versions before 0.44.0 contain a path traversal vulnerability in picture and movie API endpoints (e.g., /picture/{id}/preview/{filename}). The get_media_preview() and similar functions fail to validate the filename parameter for '..' sequences, allowing authenticated non-admin users to read arbitrary files on the filesystem as the motionEye process user.

MitigationUpgrade motionEye to version 0.44.0 or later, which includes proper validation of '..' sequences in filename parameters.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify motionEye installation and process
    Check if the motionEye service is running: systemctl status motioneye, or look for python processes running motionEye (ps aux | grep motioneye)
    Affected if motionEye process is running on the system
  2. Determine installed motionEye version
    Run 'pip show motioneye' or check the version file in the installation directory (e.g., /usr/local/lib/python*/dist-packages/motioneye/__init__.py)
    Affected if Version is found to be below 0.44.0 (e.g., 0.43.x, 0.42.x, etc.)
  3. Verify motionEye web interface is accessible
    Confirm the motionEye HTTP server is listening on its configured port (default 8765) using 'netstat -tlnp | grep 8765' or curl localhost:8765
    Affected if Web interface responds, indicating the API endpoints are exposed
  4. Check for non-admin user accounts
    Review motionEye user configuration in /etc/motioneye/motioneye.conf or the motioneye.yaml file for user entries, or query the users.db if using local authentication
    Affected if At least one non-admin (non-root) user account is configured in motionEye

You are affected if motionEye is running with a version before 0.44.0 AND the web interface is accessible with at least one non-admin user configured.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade motionEye to version 0.44.0 or later, which includes proper validation of '..' sequences in filename parameters.

Recommended fix High confidence

0.44.0

  1. 1. Backup your current motionEye configuration and any custom settings.
  2. 2. Check your current motionEye version to confirm it is below 0.44.0.
  3. 3. Upgrade motionEye to version 0.44.0 or later using your installation method (e.g., pip install --upgrade motioneye, docker pull, or system package manager).
  4. 4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the motionEye version.
  5. 5. Test the picture and movie API endpoints to confirm the path traversal vulnerability is mitigated.
  6. 6. Review and rotate any credentials that may have been exposed if the system was previously compromised.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-31978 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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