CVE-2026-118485

high

Description

Axel Download Accelerator 2.17.14 and earlier performs URL percent-decoding (http_decode()) on the output filename after the URL has been parsed and the filename component extracted. This allows an attacker to embed %2e%2e%2f (URL-encoded ../) sequences in the URL path. These sequences survive the URL parser intact (they contain no literal / characters) but are decoded into directory traversal sequences before the output file is opened for writing. As a result, a crafted URL can cause axel to write downloaded content to arbitrary filesystem paths relative to the current working directory.

References

https://github.com/axel-download-accelerator/axel/pull/483/changes/4e76e1a1dd1c4ea11b445e2c45e4ee257c76314e

https://github.com/axel-download-accelerator/axel/milestone/22

https://github.com/axel-download-accelerator/axel/issues/477

https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/EUVD-2026-112024

https://advisories.orangecyberdefense.com/advisories/167

Details

Source: Mitre, NVD

Published: 2026-10-28

Updated: 2026-10-28

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Base Score: 9.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:C/A:C

Severity: High

CVSS v3

Base Score: 8.1

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Severity: High

CVSS v4

Base Score: 7

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Severity: High