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Vulnerability Intelligence

CVE-2026-44177

High

Kirby CMS has pre-authentication path traversal and PHP file inclusion during user lookup

Published May 26, 2026 · Updated Sep 10, 2026 · Also known as EUVD-2026-45049, GHSA-9hx7-c53c-v6x8

Key Facts

Patch in the next maintenance window
  • CVE-2026-44177 is a high-severity vulnerability (CVSS 8.8 v4) affecting getkirby/cms (composer), kirby.
  • It is not listed in any known-exploited vulnerabilities catalog. No public exploit code is known.
  • EPSS estimates a 1.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
  • Fixed versions are available, including getkirby/cms 5.4.1, kirby 5.4.1.
  • Brandefense priority: patch in the next maintenance window, because of its high severity, although no exploitation is known.

CVSS v4

8.8

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

EPSS (30-day exploit likelihood)

1.8%

Higher than 77.7% of all scored CVEs

Exploited in the wild

No known

Not in a known-exploited catalog

Public exploit code

None known

Get the full CVE-2026-44177 brief as a PDF

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Description

Kirby is an open-source content management system. In versions 5.3.0 and above but prior to 5.4.1, Kirby did not correctly validate the provided user ID, resulting in a path traversal vulnerability. Version 5.3.0 introduced a performance improvement to the Users collection that loaded user objects lazily when first needed. Users were queried by their ID, which was then used to locate the corresponding account directory under site/accounts. This affected the authentication API (accessible to unauthenticated requests), the users API (accessible only to authenticated users), and any other place that uses $users->find() to look up an individual user by a request-provided email or ID. As a result, an attacker could trigger arbitrary PHP file inclusion of files named  index.php (for example, the main PHP files of plugins), the impact of which depends on the logic those files contain. It also allowed probing for the existence of arbitrary directories on the server, letting attackers fingerprint the server and site setup, including installed plugins and the content structure. This issue has been fixed in version 5.4.1.

Affected Products

2 affected entries in total
ProductAffected versionsFixed in
getkirby/cmscomposer>= 5.3.05.4.1
kirby>= 5.3.0,5.4.1

Patched Releases

getkirby/cms

5.4.1

kirby

5.4.1

Timeline

  1. Publicly disclosed

    May 26, 2026

  2. Last updated

    Sep 10, 2026

Weakness Type

  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
  • CWE-98 Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')

References

1 more references in the full CVE brief

FAQ

Common Questions.

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