CVE-2026-33765
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 · uneditedPi-hole Admin Interface is a web interface for managing Pi-hole, a network-level ad and internet tracker blocking application. Versions prior to 6.0 have a critical OS Command Injection vulnerability in the savesettings.php file. The application takes the user-controlled $_POST['webtheme'] parameter and concatenates it directly into a system command executed via PHP's exec() function. Since the input is neither sanitized nor validated before being passed to the shell, an attacker can append arbitrary system commands to the intended pihole command. Furthermore, because the command is executed with sudo privileges, the injected commands will run with elevated (likely root) privileges. Version 6.0 patches the issue.
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 confidencePi-hole Admin Interface versions before 6.0 contain a critical OS command injection vulnerability in savesettings.php. The application directly concatenates the user-controlled $_POST['webtheme'] parameter into a system command executed via PHP's exec() function without any sanitization or validation. Since the command runs with sudo privileges, attackers can inject arbitrary system commands that execute with elevated (root) privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 6.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Pi-hole Admin Interface versionCheck the installed version via the web interface footer, or look for version files in the Pi-hole admin directory (commonly /var/www/html/admin/ or check /etc/pihole/ for version files)Affected if Installed version is below 6.0
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Locate savesettings.phpFind the savesettings.php file in the Pi-hole web admin directory - this is the vulnerable script containing the command injection flawAffected if savesettings.php exists in the admin interface directory
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Verify sudo execution contextCheck Pi-hole configuration files (typically in /etc/pihole/) for sudo privileges enabling web interface command executionAffected if Pi-hole is configured to run commands with elevated (sudo/root) privileges, which is the default behavior enabling this vulnerability
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Confirm web interface exposureDetermine if the admin interface is accessible from network hosts versus restricted to localhost onlyAffected if The admin interface is network-accessible to untrusted users, allowing external attackers to reach the vulnerable endpoint
Environment is affected if Pi-hole Admin Interface version is below 6.0 AND the savesettings.php script is present and accessible, since the webtheme parameter is passed unsanitized to exec() with sudo privileges.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped6.0
Upgrade to Pi-hole Admin Interface version 6.0 or later, which includes proper input validation and removes the vulnerable code path. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict access to the admin interface to trusted users only.
6.0
- Backup your Pi-hole configuration and data before upgrading
- Upgrade Pi-hole Admin Interface to version 6.0 or later
- Verify the upgrade was successful by accessing the admin interface and checking the version number
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-33765 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-33765 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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