dbcve.org
Path TraversalWeakness · CWE-22

CVE-2026-45233

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-06-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
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
HTMLy CMS through 3.1.1 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows low-privileged authenticated attackers to relocate arbitrary files by supplying directory traversal sequences in the oldfile parameter at the admin autosave endpoint. Attackers can pass unsanitized traversal sequences directly to file_exists() and rename() functions in admin.php without canonicalization or directory boundary enforcement to cause unintended relocation of any file writable by the web server process to an attacker-specified draft location.

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

HTMLy CMS through 3.1.1 suffers from a path traversal vulnerability in admin.php at the autosave endpoint. The oldfile parameter accepts unsanitized directory traversal sequences that are passed directly to file_exists() and rename() functions without canonicalization or directory boundary enforcement, allowing authenticated low-privilege attackers to relocate arbitrary files writable by the web server to attacker-specified draft locations.

MitigationImplement strict input validation with real-path canonicalization to resolve the true file path and verify it stays within an allowed directory boundary before any file operations. Restrict the rename operation to only files within the designated draft/backup directory.

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
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check HTMLy CMS version
    Locate the version file or check the admin dashboard for the installed version number. Common locations include a version.php file or the admin footer.
    Affected if The installed version is 3.1.1 or earlier (any version 'through 3.1.1').
  2. Verify admin.php exists
    Check if admin.php file exists in the web root directory of the HTMLy installation.
    Affected if admin.php is present in the application directory.
  3. Confirm admin authentication is in use
    Review the admin configuration or attempt to access the admin panel to verify whether authentication is enabled and low-privilege admin accounts can be created.
    Affected if Authentication is enabled and low-privilege admin users exist in the system.
  4. Check web server write permissions
    Identify directories writable by the web server process (commonly the 'content' or 'images' folders, or any user-uploaded content directories).
    Affected if The web server has write permissions to any application directories accessible via the oldfile parameter in the autosave endpoint.
  5. Inspect oldfile parameter handling
    Examine admin.php source code for the autosave function to verify if the oldfile parameter is passed to file_exists() or rename() without sanitization.
    Affected if The oldfile parameter is used in file operations without proper path validation or canonicalization.

A user is affected if they run HTMLy CMS version 3.1.1 or earlier, have the admin.php endpoint accessible, and the web server has write permissions to directories that could be targeted through directory traversal in the oldfile parameter.

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

Implement strict input validation with real-path canonicalization to resolve the true file path and verify it stays within an allowed directory boundary before any file operations. Restrict the rename operation to only files within the designated draft/backup directory.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

HTMLy CMS version newer than 3.1.1 (check official releases for the first patched version)

  1. Check the official HTMLy CMS releases page (github.com/danpros/htmly or danpros.com) for versions newer than 3.1.1 that address this vulnerability
  2. If a patched version (e.g., 3.1.2 or later) is available, plan and schedule the upgrade following standard CMS upgrade procedures
  3. Backup the current installation including database and all files before upgrading
  4. Test the upgrade in a staging environment before deploying to production
  5. After upgrading, verify the fix by attempting a controlled, authorized test of the autosave endpoint with traversal sequences to confirm the vulnerability is patched
  6. If no patched version is available, implement a WAF rule to block directory traversal patterns (.., /, \) in the oldfile parameter at the web application layer as a temporary mitigation
Caveat Review release notes for any breaking changes between current version and target upgrade version before upgrading

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-2026-45233 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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