GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go
GHSA-jfwf-28xr-xw6q RClone: Unauthenticated operations/fsinfo allows attacker-controlled backend instantiation and local command execution
CRITICAL
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-41179
- Ecosystem
- Go
- Packages
- github.com/rclone/rclone
- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Weaknesses
- CWE-306, CWE-78
- Reviewed
- 2026-04-22
Affected packages
• Go github.com/rclone/rclone: >= 1.48.0, < 1.73.5 → fixed in 1.73.5
Description
Summary
The RC endpoint `operations/fsinfo` is exposed without `AuthRequired: true` and accepts attacker-controlled `fs` input. Because `rc.GetFs(...)` supports inline backend definitions, an unauthenticated attacker can instantiate an attacker-controlled backend on demand. For the WebDAV backend, `bearer_token_command` is executed during backend initialization, making single-request unauthenticated local command execution possible on reachable RC deployments without global HTTP authentication.
Preconditions
Preconditions for this vulnerability are:
• The rclone remote control API must be enabled, either by the `--rc` flag or by running the `rclone rcd` server
• The remote control API must be reachable by the attacker - by default rclone only serves the rc to localhost unless the `--rc-addr` flag is in use
• The rc must have been deployed without global RC HTTP authentication - so not using `--rc-user`/`--rc-pass`/`--rc-htpasswd`/etc
Details
The root cause consists of the following pieces:
1. `operations/fsinfo` is not protected with `AuthRequired: true`
2. `operations/fsinfo` calls `rc.GetFs(...)` on attacker-controlled input
3. `rc.GetFs(...)` supports inline backend creation through object-valued `fs`
4. WebDAV backend initialization executes `bearer_token_command`
Relevant code paths:
• `fs/operations/rc.go`
• `operations/fsinfo` is registered without `AuthRequired: true`
• `rcFsInfo()` calls `rc.GetFs(ctx, in)`
• `fs/rc/cache.go`
• `GetFs()` / `GetFsNamed()` can parse an object-valued `fs`
• `getConfigMap()` converts attacker-controlled JSON into a backend config string
• `backend/webdav/webdav.go`
• `bearer_token_command` is a supported backend option
• `NewFs(...)` calls `fetchAndSetBearerToken()` when `bearer_token_command` is set
• `fetchBearerToken()` invokes `exec.Command(...)`
This creates a practical single-request unauthenticated command-execution primitive on reachable RC servers without global HTTP authentication.
This was alidated on:
• current `master` as of 2026-04-14: `bf55d5e6d37fd86164a87782191f9e1ffcaafa82`
• latest public release tested locally: `v1.73.4`
This was also validated on a public amd64 Ubuntu host controlled by the tester, using direct host execution (not containerized PoC execution).
PoC
Minimal single-request form PoC
Start a vulnerable RC server:
```bash
rclone rcd --rc-addr 127.0.0.1:5572
```
No `--rc-user`, no `--rc-pass`, no `--rc-htpasswd`.
Then send a single request:
```bash
curl -sS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:5572/operations/fsinfo \
--data-urlencode "fs=:webdav,url='http://127.0.0.1/',vendor=other,bearer_token_command='/usr/bin/touch /tmp/rclone_fsinfo_rce_poc_marker':"
```
Expected result:
• HTTP 200 JSON response from `operations/fsinfo`
• `/tmp/rclone_fsinfo_rce_poc_marker` is created on the host
Impact
This is effectively a single-request unauthenticated command-execution vulnerability on reachable RC deployments without global HTTP authentication.
In practice, command execution in the rclone process context can lead to higher-impact outcomes such as local file read, file write, or shell access, depending on the deployed environment.
Testing performed
This was successfully reproduced:
• on a local test environment
• on a public amd64 Ubuntu host controlled by the tester
On the public host it was confirmed:
• the unauthenticated `operations/fsinfo` exploit worked
• command execution occurred on the host
• the issue was reproducible through direct host execution
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-41179 Rclone is a command-line program to sync files and directories to and from different cloud storage providers. vulnerability
References
- https://github.com/rclone/rclone/security/advisories/GHSA-jfwf-28xr-xw6q web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-41179 advisory
- https://github.com/rclone/rclone/commit/2a9e952b38e03a96bf40c9eb6e8e22199865ee3b web
- https://github.com/rclone/rclone package
- https://github.com/rclone/rclone/blob/bf55d5e6d37fd86164a87782191f9e1ffcaafa82/backend/webdav/webdav.go web
- https://github.com/rclone/rclone/blob/bf55d5e6d37fd86164a87782191f9e1ffcaafa82/fs/operations/rc.go web
- https://github.com/rclone/rclone/blob/bf55d5e6d37fd86164a87782191f9e1ffcaafa82/fs/rc/cache.go web
- https://github.com/rclone/rclone/releases/tag/v1.73.5 web
- https://rclone.org/changelog/#v1-73-5-2026-04-19 web