CVE-2026-28676

High

Published: 06 March 2026

Published

06 March 2026

Modified

18 March 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0008 23.4th percentile

Risk Priority 18 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-28676 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Opensift Opensift. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 23.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

This vulnerability is AI-related — categorised as Machine Learning Libraries.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 3 other techniques. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

prevent

Directly requires validation of user-supplied path inputs in storage helpers to enforce base-directory containment and block path injection attacks.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Mandates timely identification, reporting, and patching of software flaws like this path injection vulnerability in OpenSift.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

prevent

Enforces file system access controls to restrict unauthorized read, write, or delete operations outside the intended base directory even if path traversal succeeds.

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 →

T1005 Data from Local System Collection

Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.

attack.mitre.org →

T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

Adversaries may delete files left behind by the actions of their intrusion activity.

attack.mitre.org →

T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer Command And Control

Adversaries may transfer tools or other files from an external system into a compromised environment.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Path traversal (CWE-22) in network-accessible app directly enables arbitrary file read (T1005), delete (T1070.004), write for tool ingress (T1105), and exploitation of the vulnerable public-facing service (T1190).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

OpenSift is an AI study tool that sifts through large datasets using semantic search and generative AI. Prior to version 1.6.3-alpha, multiple storage helpers used path construction patterns that did not uniformly enforce base-directory containment. This created path-injection risk in…

file read/write/delete flows if malicious path-like values were introduced. This issue has been patched in version 1.6.3-alpha.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-28676 is a path injection vulnerability (CWE-22) affecting OpenSift, an AI study tool that processes large datasets via semantic search and generative AI. In versions prior to 1.6.3-alpha, multiple storage helpers employed path construction patterns that failed to consistently enforce base-directory containment. This flaw exposed file read, write, and delete operations to path-injection risks when malicious path-like inputs were supplied. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

An authenticated attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this over the network (AV:N) with low complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N). Successful exploitation allows arbitrary file read, write, or delete operations outside the intended base directory, potentially leading to high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H).

The issue was addressed in OpenSift version 1.6.3-alpha, as detailed in the project's GitHub security advisory (GHSA-ww4m-c7hv-2rqv), release notes, pull request #67, and fixing commits (1126e0a503876056a68a434e19f64158a5a4840b and de99b9c). Security practitioners should upgrade to at least 1.6.3-alpha to mitigate the risk.

As an AI-powered tool for dataset analysis, this vulnerability highlights path traversal risks in AI/ML workflows handling user-supplied inputs for storage operations, though no public evidence of real-world exploitation has been reported.