CVE-2026-33046

HighRCE

Published: 23 March 2026

Published

23 March 2026

Modified

24 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 0.0010 26.5th percentile

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

Summary

CVE-2026-33046 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Cern Indico. 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 26.5th 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 CM-7 (Least Functionality) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 2 other techniques. 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

Requires timely remediation of the LaTeX sanitizer flaw by updating Indico to version 3.3.12, directly addressing the vulnerability exploitation.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

prevent

Mandates validation of user-supplied LaTeX inputs to block specially crafted snippets that bypass the sanitizer for file reads or command execution.

CM-7 Least Functionality good match

prevent

Enforces disabling unnecessary server-side LaTeX rendering via XELATEX_PATH configuration to eliminate the attack surface entirely.

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 →

T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution

Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.

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 →

Why these techniques?

Vuln is a sanitizer bypass in public-facing Indico web app enabling authenticated RCE (CWE-78) via OS commands on Linux server (T1190 + T1059.004) and arbitrary local file reads (CWE-22, T1005).

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

NVD Description

Indico is an event management system that uses Flask-Multipass, a multi-backend authentication system for Flask. In versions prior to 3.3.12, due to vulnerabilities in TeXLive and obscure LaTeX syntax that allowed circumventing Indico's LaTeX sanitizer, it is possible to use…

specially-crafted LaTeX snippets which can read local files or execute code with the privileges of the user running Indico on the server. Note that if server-side LaTeX rendering is not in use (ie `XELATEX_PATH` was not set in `indico.conf`), this vulnerability does not apply. It is recommended to update to Indico 3.3.12 as soon as possible. It is also strongly recommended to enable the containerized LaTeX renderer (using `podman`), which isolates it from the rest of the system. As a workaround, remove the `XELATEX_PATH` setting from `indico.conf` (or comment it out or set it to `None`) and restart the `indico-uwsgi` and `indico-celery` services to disable LaTeX functionality.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-33046 is a high-severity vulnerability (CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8) affecting Indico, an open-source event management system that incorporates Flask-Multipass for authentication. In versions prior to 3.3.12, flaws in TeXLive and obscure LaTeX syntax enable attackers to bypass Indico's LaTeX sanitizer. This allows specially crafted LaTeX snippets to perform arbitrary local file reads (CWE-22) or execute operating system commands (CWE-78) with the privileges of the user running the Indico server process. The issue only applies if server-side LaTeX rendering is enabled via the `XELATEX_PATH` setting in `indico.conf`.

An attacker with low-privilege authenticated access (PR:L), such as a registered Indico user, can exploit this over the network (AV:N) with low complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N). By submitting malicious LaTeX content—likely through event descriptions, materials, or other features that trigger rendering—they can achieve high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations (C:H/I:H/A:H). Successful exploitation grants file system access or remote code execution on the server, potentially leading to full compromise depending on the hosting environment.

Mitigation requires updating to Indico 3.3.12, as detailed in the project's GitHub release notes and associated fix commits. Enabling the containerized LaTeX renderer with Podman is strongly recommended for isolation. As a workaround, remove or comment out the `XELATEX_PATH` setting in `indico.conf` (or set it to `None`), then restart the `indico-uwsgi` and `indico-celery` services to disable LaTeX functionality entirely.