CVE-2026-40163

HighPublic PoCUpdated

Published: 10 April 2026

Published

10 April 2026

Modified

27 April 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:L/I:H/A:N

EPSS Score 0.0013 32.3th percentile

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

Summary

CVE-2026-40163 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Saltcorn Saltcorn. 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 32.3th 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 AC-14 (Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 1 other technique. 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

Validates user-supplied path inputs to the /sync/offline_changes and /sync/upload_finished endpoints, preventing path traversal that enables arbitrary directory creation, file writes, and reads.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

prevent

Enforces access control policies to block unauthenticated filesystem modifications and directory traversals via the vulnerable endpoints.

AC-14 Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication good match

prevent

Restricts dangerous actions like arbitrary file writes and directory listings to only explicitly permitted unauthenticated operations, excluding these vulnerable endpoints.

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 →

T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery

Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Path traversal vulnerability in public-facing web application enables T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application). Allows arbitrary directory listing and file reads, mapping to T1083 (File and Directory Discovery).

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

NVD Description

Saltcorn is an extensible, open source, no-code database application builder. Prior to 1.4.5, 1.5.5, and 1.6.0-beta.4, the POST /sync/offline_changes endpoint allows an unauthenticated attacker to create arbitrary directories and write a changes.json file with attacker-controlled JSON content anywhere on the…

server filesystem. The GET /sync/upload_finished endpoint allows an unauthenticated attacker to list arbitrary directory contents and read specific JSON files. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.4.5, 1.5.5, and 1.6.0-beta.4.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-40163 is a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) affecting Saltcorn, an extensible open-source no-code database application builder. In versions prior to 1.4.5, 1.5.5, and 1.6.0-beta.4, the POST /sync/offline_changes endpoint enables unauthenticated attackers to create arbitrary directories and write attacker-controlled changes.json files anywhere on the server filesystem. Additionally, the GET /sync/upload_finished endpoint allows unauthenticated attackers to list contents of arbitrary directories and read specific JSON files. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N) and was published on 2026-04-10.

Unauthenticated remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity and no privileges required. By sending crafted requests to the affected endpoints, attackers can achieve arbitrary directory creation and manipulation, write malicious JSON content to changes.json files in chosen locations, enumerate directory structures, and extract sensitive data from targeted JSON files, potentially leading to information disclosure and filesystem integrity compromise.

The Saltcorn GitHub security advisory (GHSA-32pv-mpqg-h292) confirms the issue and states that it is fixed in Saltcorn versions 1.4.5, 1.5.5, and 1.6.0-beta.4. Security practitioners should upgrade to one of these patched releases to mitigate the vulnerability.