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Path TraversalWeakness · CWE-22

CVE-2026-55488

HIGH · 7.7 CVSS v4.0 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 →
86/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 a piece of software called "motion," which is a video surveillance program with motion detection. Versions prior to 0.44.0 contain an absolute path traversal vulnerability in multiple media file handlers that allows an attacker to read arbitrary files from the filesystem. The affected handlers accept a user-controlled filename parameter and construct filesystem paths using `os.path.join()`. When an absolute path is supplied, Python discards the configured media directory and returns the attacker-supplied path directly. The application then bypasses Tornado's built-in path validation by overriding the relevant safety checks. As a result, an attacker can access files outside of the configured camera media directory, subject to the permissions of the motionEye process. Version 0.44.0 fixes 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 confidence

motionEye versions before 0.44.0 contain an absolute path traversal vulnerability in media file handlers where user-supplied filename parameters are passed to os.path.join(). When an absolute path is provided, Python's os.path.join() returns only the absolute path, bypassing the configured media directory. The application intentionally overrides Tornado's built-in path validation safety checks, allowing attackers to read arbitrary files from the filesystem subject to process permissions.

MitigationUpgrade motionEye to version 0.44.0 or later to remediate this path traversal vulnerability.

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
None
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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. Determine installed motionEye version
    Check the version of motionEye installed on your system. Common methods include: running 'pip show motioneye' if installed via pip, checking the package manager output, or inspecting the motioneye version file if present in the installation directory.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 0.44.0 (for example, 0.43.1, 0.42.0, etc.)
  2. Verify motionEye web service is running
    Confirm that the motionEye web interface is active and accessible. This typically runs on a specific port (commonly 8761). Check if the service is listening on its configured port.
    Affected if The web service is running and accessible - the path traversal vulnerability only affects the media file handler functionality exposed through the web interface.
  3. Identify media file handler configuration
    Inspect the motionEye configuration to determine if media file serving is enabled. This is typically controlled via the 'media_file_name' or similar configuration parameters that handle file paths for stored media.
    Affected if Media file handling is configured and the web interface accepts filename parameters - the vulnerability occurs when user-supplied filename parameters are passed to os.path.join() in the media file handlers.

You are affected if motionEye version is below 0.44.0 AND the web interface with media file handling is accessible, since the absolute path traversal allows bypassing the configured media directory to read arbitrary files.

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 to remediate this path traversal vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

0.44.0

  1. Identify your current motionEye installation method (e.g., pip, Docker, or system package)
  2. Stop the motionEye service
  3. Backup your current configuration and data
  4. Upgrade to version 0.44.0 using your package manager (e.g., pip install motioneye==0.44.0, docker pull, or system package manager)
  5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the installed version
  6. Restart the motionEye service
  7. Test that the application functions normally
Caveat Review release notes for any configuration or dependency changes between your current version and 0.44.0

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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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-2026-55488 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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