Path TraversalWeakness · CWE-22

CVE-2026-6496

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
60/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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
A vulnerability was found in prasathmani TinyFileManager up to 2.6. Affected is an unknown function of the file /filemanager.php of the component POST Parameter Handler. The manipulation of the argument file[] results in path traversal. The attack may be performed from remote. The exploit has been made public and could be used. The vendor was contacted early about this disclosure but did not respond in any way.

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

Path traversal vulnerability in TinyFileManager's /filemanager.php via the file[] POST parameter allows remote attackers to access files outside the intended directory by manipulating the argument with directory traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../etc/passwd).

MitigationImplement strict input validation and sanitization on the file[] parameter to ensure paths are normalized and confined to allowed directories. Use basename() and realpath() to resolve and validate all file paths before processing.

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
Low
Availability
Low

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

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. Confirm TinyFileManager installation
    Search for 'filemanager.php' or 'tinyfilemanager.php' in the web root directory using file system inspection (e.g., find /var/www -name '*filemanager*.php' 2>/dev/null) or check web server configuration for references to TinyFileManager.
    Affected if TinyFileManager's filemanager.php file exists and is accessible via the web server.
  2. Identify TinyFileManager version
    Open the filemanager.php file and search for a version string (often in comments near the top, such as '$version =' or 'TinyFileManager version'). Compare the found version to the vendor's release history for versions that include the fix.
    Affected if The installed version is any version prior to the vendor patch that addresses path traversal in the file[] parameter.
  3. Verify POST parameter handling
    Send a benign POST request to /filemanager.php with a file[] parameter containing a simple directory traversal attempt (e.g., file[]=../../../test.txt) and observe if the application processes it without rejecting or sanitizing the path.
    Affected if The application accepts and processes the file[] POST parameter with directory traversal sequences without validation.
  4. Check web server privileges
    Review the user/group running the web server process (e.g., ps aux | grep -E 'apache|nginx|php-fpm|httpd') and verify which files the web server user can read on the system.
    Affected if The web server runs with privileges sufficient to read sensitive system files (such as /etc/passwd) that should not be accessible through the web application.

You are affected if TinyFileManager is installed, the file[] POST parameter accepts directory traversal sequences without sanitization, and the web server process has access to files outside the intended web directory.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement strict input validation and sanitization on the file[] parameter to ensure paths are normalized and confined to allowed directories. Use basename() and realpath() to resolve and validate all file paths before processing.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2026-6496 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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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