Executive brief
motionEye is a web-based interface used to manage video surveillance and motion detection cameras. A security flaw allows users with standard access to bypass folder restrictions and view any file on the underlying server. This could lead to the theft of sensitive information, including system passwords, configuration files, and private surveillance footage from other cameras.
Technical details
A path traversal vulnerability exists in the picture and movie API endpoints (e.g., /picture/{id}/preview/{filename}) of motionEye. The root cause is a failure to sanitize the 'filename' parameter for '..' sequences within the mediafiles.py functions, specifically get_media_preview() and del_media_content(). While other functions like get_media_content() implemented checks, these specific handlers remained vulnerable. An authenticated attacker with normal (non-admin) privileges can provide URL-encoded traversal sequences (%2F) to escape the intended media directory. This allows for the retrieval of sensitive system files such as /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, and motionEye configuration files containing credentials. The issue is resolved in version 0.44.0.
Affected products
- motioneye-project motionEye < 0.44.0
Timeline
- 2026-06-20: patched: Version 0.44.0 released
- 2026-06-20: advisory: GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-g9fx-5r4h-pcw3 published
- 2026-06-24: disclosed: CVE-2026-31978 published to NVD