CVE-2026-33072

HighPublic PoC

Published: 20 March 2026

Published

20 March 2026

Modified

23 March 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 8.2 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N

EPSS Score 0.0002 5.0th percentile

Risk Priority 16 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-33072 is a high-severity Use of Hard-coded Credentials (CWE-798) vulnerability in Filerise Filerise. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 5.0th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 CM-6 (Configuration Settings) and SC-12 (Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management).

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

SC-12 Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management good match

prevent

Requires establishment and management of cryptographic keys, directly preventing the use of hardcoded default keys for HMAC, AES, and session tokens.

CM-6 Configuration Settings good match

prevent

Mandates secure configuration settings, ensuring the PERSISTENT_TOKENS_KEY environment variable is overridden with a unique strong value instead of the hardcoded default.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Requires timely flaw remediation through patching to version 3.9.0, which fixes the hardcoded key vulnerability.

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 →

T1552 Unsecured Credentials Credential Access

Adversaries may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.

attack.mitre.org →

T1606 Forge Web Credentials Credential Access

Adversaries may forge credential materials that can be used to gain access to web applications or Internet services.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Hardcoded default key directly enables forging auth/upload/session tokens (T1606) for unauthorized access/uploads and decrypting config secrets/credentials (T1552) in a public-facing web/WebDAV app (T1190).

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

NVD Description

FileRise is a self-hosted web file manager / WebDAV server. In versions prior to 3.9.0, a hardcoded default encryption key (default_please_change_this_key) is used for all cryptographic operations — HMAC token generation, AES config encryption, and session tokens — allowing any…

unauthenticated attacker to forge upload tokens for arbitrary file upload to shared folders, and to decrypt admin configuration secrets including OIDC client secrets and SMTP passwords. FileRise uses a single key (PERSISTENT_TOKENS_KEY) for all crypto operations. The default value default_please_change_this_key is hardcoded in two places and used unless the deployer explicitly overrides the environment variable. This issue is fixed in version 3.9.0.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-33072 affects FileRise, a self-hosted web file manager and WebDAV server, in versions prior to 3.9.0. The vulnerability stems from a hardcoded default encryption key named "default_please_change_this_key," which is used for all cryptographic operations including HMAC token generation, AES encryption of configuration data, and session tokens. This key, set via the PERSISTENT_TOKENS_KEY environment variable and hardcoded in two locations, is employed unless explicitly overridden by the deployer. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N) and is associated with CWEs-798 (Use of Hard-coded Credentials) and CWE-1188 (Insecure Default Initialization of Resource).

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this over the network with low complexity and no user interaction. By knowing the default key, they can forge upload tokens to perform arbitrary file uploads to shared folders and decrypt sensitive admin configuration secrets, such as OIDC client secrets and SMTP passwords.

The issue is fixed in FileRise version 3.9.0, as detailed in the project's GitHub release notes and security advisory (GHSA-f4xx-57cv-mg3x). Deployers must override the PERSISTENT_TOKENS_KEY environment variable with a unique, strong value to mitigate the risk in affected versions.