GitHub Advisoryadvisory · PyPI

GHSA-rw9q-97r9-8gvh motionEye's Absolute Path Traversal in Media File Handlers Allows Arbitrary File Read

HIGH Published 2026-06-23 Modified 2026-06-23 Official page ↗
Aliases
CVE-2026-55488
Ecosystem
PyPI
Packages
motioneye
Severity
High
Weaknesses
CWE-22
Reviewed
2026-06-23

Affected packages

• PyPI motioneye: < 0.44.0 → fixed in 0.44.0

Description

Summary mEye contains an absolute path traversal vulnerability in multiple media file handlers that allows an attacker to read arbitrary files from the filesystem. The affected handlers accept a user-controlled filename parameter and construct filesystem paths using `os.path.join()`. When an absolute path is supplied, Python discards the configured media directory and returns the attacker-supplied path directly. The application then bypasses Tornado's built-in path validation by overriding the relevant safety checks. As a result, an attacker can access files outside of the configured camera media directory, subject to the permissions of the motionEye process. Details The issue exists in the media playback and download functionality. The filename parameter is passed to `mediafiles.get_media_path()`: ```python def get_media_path(camera_config, path, media_type): target_dir = camera_config.get('target_dir') full_path = os.path.join(target_dir, path) return full_path ``` When path is an absolute path (e.g. `/etc/motioneye/motion.conf`), Python's `os.path.join()` discards `target_dir` entirely and returns the absolute path as-is. This would normally be caught by Tornado's StaticFileHandler path validation, but MoviePlaybackHandler explicitly overrides both safety checks (`movie_playback.py` lines 111-115): ``` def get_absolute_path(self, root, path): return path def validate_absolute_path(self, root, absolute_path): return absolute_path ``` This allows reading any file on the filesystem that the motionEye process can access. The same path traversal exists in the movie download, picture download, and picture preview handlers: • GET /movie//download/ • GET /picture//download/ • GET /picture//preview/ PoC ``` GET /movie/1/playback//etc/motioneye/motion.conf HTTP/1.1 Host: target:8765 ``` Fix Do not allow absolute paths supplied by user input. Validate that the fully resolved canonical path remains within the configured camera media directory before serving a file. Additionally, Tornado’s built-in path validation should not be bypassed unless equivalent validation is performed by motionEye.

Related

Alias · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2026-55488 motionEye (mEye) is an online interface for a piece of software called "motion," which is a video surveillance program with motion… vulnerability

Weakness · CWE (1)

  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory weakness

References