CVE-2026-56122
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 · uneditedWinstone Servlet Engine through 0.9.10 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary files by sending HTTP GET requests with dot-dot-slash sequences that are not sanitized when serving static files from the configured webroot. Attackers can traverse outside the webroot directory using traversal-prefixed paths in a single HTTP request to read any file accessible to the servlet engine process, including sensitive system files when the service runs with elevated privileges.
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 confidenceWinstone Servlet Engine through 0.9.10 fails to sanitize dot-dot-slash sequences in HTTP GET requests when serving static files. Unauthenticated attackers can use path traversal sequences (../) to access files outside the configured webroot, potentially reading sensitive system files if the service runs with elevated privileges.
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
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Winstone versionCheck the Winstone JAR file name, examine startup logs, or run the servlet engine with a version flag if available. Compare the discovered version against the affected range (0.9.10 and below).Affected if The installed version is 0.9.10 or any earlier version of Winstone Servlet Engine.
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Confirm static file serving is enabledInspect the Winstone configuration files or command-line arguments for settings that enable static content serving, such as --webroot, --httpPort, or similar static resource directives.Affected if Static file serving is enabled and a webroot directory is configured.
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Review webroot configurationLocate the configured webroot directory by examining Winstone startup scripts, configuration files, or the --webroot parameter. Identify the document root path used for serving static files.Affected if A webroot directory is explicitly configured and static files are served from it.
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Test for path traversal vulnerabilitySend a crafted HTTP GET request containing path traversal sequences (such as ../../../../etc/passwd or ../../windows/win.ini) to the Winstone server and observe whether the response returns files from outside the configured webroot.Affected if The server returns file contents from paths outside the configured webroot directory.
If Winstone version 0.9.10 or earlier is running with static file serving enabled, and a path traversal test successfully accesses files outside the webroot, the environment is affected by this CVE.
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.
From vendor dataImplement strict input validation to reject paths containing traversal sequences (../) and ensure the servlet engine runs with minimal privileges to limit exposure if traversal occurs.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-56122 — 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-2026-56122 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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