Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:XSummary
CVE-2026-33046 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Cern Indico. Its CVSS base score is 7.7 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 47% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
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.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-14612
Vulnerability Data
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…
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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.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2V1.2.5V1.2.8V15.2.5
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.
Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.
Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.
Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.
Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.
Secure engineering principles require proper neutralization of untrusted input before command construction.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.