CVE-2026-2251

Critical

Published: 27 February 2026

Published

27 February 2026

Modified

02 March 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0011 28.8th percentile

Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-2251 is a critical-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Xerox Freeflow Core. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 28.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Directly mitigates the CVE by requiring timely remediation through application of the vendor patch upgrading to FreeFlow Core 8.1.0.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

prevent

Prevents path traversal exploitation by validating pathname inputs to ensure they remain within restricted directories.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

prevent

Enforces access restrictions on restricted directories, countering the improper limitation of pathnames that enables unauthorized traversal and RCE.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Path traversal vulnerability enables unauthenticated RCE on public-facing Xerox FreeFlow Core application, directly facilitating T1190: Exploit Public-Facing Application.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

NVD Description

Improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory (Path Traversal) vulnerability in Xerox FreeFlow Core allows unauthorized path traversal leading to RCE. This issue affects Xerox FreeFlow Core versions up to and including 8.0.7. Please consider upgrading to FreeFlow…

Core version 8.1.0 via the software available on - https://www.support.xerox.com/en-us/product/core/downloads https://www.support.xerox.com/en-us/product/core/downloads

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-2251 is an improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory vulnerability, classified under CWE-22 as path traversal, affecting Xerox FreeFlow Core. This flaw enables unauthorized path traversal that leads to remote code execution (RCE). The vulnerability impacts versions up to and including 8.0.7, with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating critical severity due to high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.

An unauthenticated attacker with network access can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to traverse restricted directories and execute arbitrary code on the affected system, potentially leading to full compromise of the Xerox FreeFlow Core instance.

Xerox's security bulletin (Xerox-Security-Bulletin-026-005) and advisory recommend upgrading to FreeFlow Core version 8.1.0, available for download at https://www.support.xerox.com/en-us/product/core/downloads. Additional details are provided in the bulletin at https://securitydocs.business.xerox.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Xerox-Security-Bulletin-026-005-for-Xerox-Freeflow-Core.pdf.