Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-40503

Path Traversal in Hkuds Openharness ≤ 2026-04-13

Public PoCPath Traversal
Published
16 April 2026
Modified
14 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/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:X
EPSS Score 0.0041 34th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-40503 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Hkuds Openharness. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 34th 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 map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

OpenHarness prior to commit dd1d235 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows remote gateway users with chat access to read arbitrary files by supplying path traversal sequences to the /memory show slash command. Attackers can manipulate the path input parameter…

more

to escape the project memory directory and access sensitive files accessible to the OpenHarness process without filesystem containment validation.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

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.
Why these techniques?

Path traversal enables direct arbitrary file read from the local filesystem (T1005).

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-32847Same vendor: Hkuds
CVE-2025-66278Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-9215Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-35613Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-20148Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-45731Shared CWE-22
CVE-2025-13801Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-6865Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-45775Shared CWE-22
CVE-2026-24488Shared CWE-22

Affected Assets

hkuds
openharness
≤ 2026-04-13

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly blocks path traversal by validating and sanitizing the path parameter supplied to the /memory show command before filesystem access.

prevent

Enforces access-control decisions on file reads so that even a manipulated path cannot escape the intended project memory directory.

prevent

Limits the OpenHarness process privileges so that files outside the memory directory remain inaccessible even if traversal succeeds.

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-02 partial match
prevents

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 none match
prevents

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.

detects

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References