GHSA-8R62-W5WH-FC5M
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-08-20 21:34 – Updated: 2026-08-20 21:34Summary
The cross-site WebSocket hijacking fix was reimplemented as an origin check gated on a raw-URI prefix test, but Go's ServeMux routes on the percent-decoded path, so requesting /%61pi/events reaches the WebSocket handler while skipping the only origin control, and the upgrader itself accepts every origin. Confirmed at HEAD 408b30d. Affects 1.29.0 through 1.30.5.
The defect
Two halves that were each correct in isolation. server/websockets/client.go accepts any origin and delegates the check elsewhere:
var upgrader = websocket.Upgrader{ // line 33
...
CheckOrigin: func(_ *http.Request) bool { // line 37
// origin is checked via server.go's CORS settings
return true // line 39
},
}
server/server.go performs that check but keys it on the RAW request target:
if strings.HasPrefix(r.RequestURI, config.Webroot+"api/") || htmlPreviewRouteRe.MatchString(r.RequestURI) { // line 320
if allowed := corsOriginAccessControl(r); !allowed {
http.Error(w, "Blocked due to CORS violation", http.StatusForbidden)
return
}
r.RequestURI is the untouched wire target; Go's ServeMux routes on the percent-DECODED path. So for /%61pi/events: strings.HasPrefix("/%61pi/events", "/api/") is FALSE (origin check skipped), ServeMux decodes %61 to "a" and routes to /api/events, and the upgrader's CheckOrigin returns true.
Measured, default config, no auth: /api/events with Origin: https://evil.example returns 403; /%61pi/events with the same Origin returns 101 Switching Protocols and begins streaming. With a message delivered over SMTP while the cross-origin socket was open, the attacker origin received the ID, Message-Id, From, To, Cc, Bcc, Subject ("SECRET password reset token abc123"), size, tags, and body Snippet, live. WebSockets are not subject to CORS response-header enforcement, so the absent Access-Control-Allow-Origin header provides no protection once the upgrade succeeds.
Regression provenance: commit 6f1f4f3 (2026-01-10, v1.28.2) fixed CVE-2026-22689 by DELETING CheckOrigin; commit a63bcd9 (2026-01-31, first in v1.29.0) reintroduced CheckOrigin returning true and replaced the protection with the bypassable raw-prefix test.
Attacker model and verification
Any website the developer visits while Mailpit is running. No credentials, no ability to send mail, no interaction beyond visiting a page. Requires Mailpit without --ui-auth-file (the default, and the same precondition as the original CVE). The bypass was measured live against a real Mailpit instance on loopback, including the 403-versus-101 control pair; authentication still holds (the encoded path returns 401 when --ui-auth-file is set); browser reachability was confirmed against the WHATWG URL parser, which preserves %61.
Suggested fix
Do not make security decisions on r.RequestURI. Key the check on r.URL.Path, the decoded value the router uses, so the gate and the route agree. Better, restore a real CheckOrigin on the upgrader so the WebSocket carries its own origin enforcement rather than depending on a middleware prefix match. Secondary (Low, not claimed as XSS): server/apiv1/message.go lines 154-155 echo an attacker-chosen Content-Type with Content-Disposition: inline; this is blocked today by the nonce CSP.
Tooling
I used AI assistance while investigating. The bypass was measured live against a real Mailpit instance on loopback, including the 403-versus-101 control pair and the authenticated 401 case, and I separately confirmed at HEAD the CheckOrigin returning true with its delegating comment and the RequestURI-keyed prefix gate.
{
"affected": [
{
"database_specific": {
"last_known_affected_version_range": "\u003c= 1.30.5"
},
"package": {
"ecosystem": "Go",
"name": "github.com/axllent/mailpit"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "1.29.0"
},
{
"fixed": "1.30.6"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
]
}
],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2026-67448"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-177",
"CWE-200",
"CWE-346"
],
"github_reviewed": true,
"github_reviewed_at": "2026-08-20T21:34:58Z",
"nvd_published_at": null,
"severity": "MODERATE"
},
"details": "## Summary\n\nThe cross-site WebSocket hijacking fix was reimplemented as an origin check gated on a raw-URI prefix test, but Go\u0027s ServeMux routes on the percent-decoded path, so requesting /%61pi/events reaches the WebSocket handler while skipping the only origin control, and the upgrader itself accepts every origin. Confirmed at HEAD 408b30d. Affects 1.29.0 through 1.30.5.\n\n## The defect\n\nTwo halves that were each correct in isolation. server/websockets/client.go accepts any origin and delegates the check elsewhere:\n\n```go\nvar upgrader = websocket.Upgrader{ // line 33\n ...\n CheckOrigin: func(_ *http.Request) bool { // line 37\n // origin is checked via server.go\u0027s CORS settings\n return true // line 39\n },\n}\n```\n\nserver/server.go performs that check but keys it on the RAW request target:\n\n```go\nif strings.HasPrefix(r.RequestURI, config.Webroot+\"api/\") || htmlPreviewRouteRe.MatchString(r.RequestURI) { // line 320\n if allowed := corsOriginAccessControl(r); !allowed {\n http.Error(w, \"Blocked due to CORS violation\", http.StatusForbidden)\n return\n }\n```\n\nr.RequestURI is the untouched wire target; Go\u0027s ServeMux routes on the percent-DECODED path. So for /%61pi/events: `strings.HasPrefix(\"/%61pi/events\", \"/api/\")` is FALSE (origin check skipped), ServeMux decodes %61 to \"a\" and routes to /api/events, and the upgrader\u0027s CheckOrigin returns true.\n\nMeasured, default config, no auth: /api/events with `Origin: https://evil.example` returns 403; /%61pi/events with the same Origin returns 101 Switching Protocols and begins streaming. With a message delivered over SMTP while the cross-origin socket was open, the attacker origin received the ID, Message-Id, From, To, Cc, Bcc, Subject (\"SECRET password reset token abc123\"), size, tags, and body Snippet, live. WebSockets are not subject to CORS response-header enforcement, so the absent Access-Control-Allow-Origin header provides no protection once the upgrade succeeds.\n\nRegression provenance: commit 6f1f4f3 (2026-01-10, v1.28.2) fixed CVE-2026-22689 by DELETING CheckOrigin; commit a63bcd9 (2026-01-31, first in v1.29.0) reintroduced CheckOrigin returning true and replaced the protection with the bypassable raw-prefix test.\n\n## Attacker model and verification\n\nAny website the developer visits while Mailpit is running. No credentials, no ability to send mail, no interaction beyond visiting a page. Requires Mailpit without --ui-auth-file (the default, and the same precondition as the original CVE). The bypass was measured live against a real Mailpit instance on loopback, including the 403-versus-101 control pair; authentication still holds (the encoded path returns 401 when --ui-auth-file is set); browser reachability was confirmed against the WHATWG URL parser, which preserves %61.\n\n## Suggested fix\n\nDo not make security decisions on r.RequestURI. Key the check on r.URL.Path, the decoded value the router uses, so the gate and the route agree. Better, restore a real CheckOrigin on the upgrader so the WebSocket carries its own origin enforcement rather than depending on a middleware prefix match. Secondary (Low, not claimed as XSS): server/apiv1/message.go lines 154-155 echo an attacker-chosen Content-Type with Content-Disposition: inline; this is blocked today by the nonce CSP.\n\n## Tooling\n\nI used AI assistance while investigating. The bypass was measured live against a real Mailpit instance on loopback, including the 403-versus-101 control pair and the authenticated 401 case, and I separately confirmed at HEAD the CheckOrigin returning true with its delegating comment and the RequestURI-keyed prefix gate.",
"id": "GHSA-8r62-w5wh-fc5m",
"modified": "2026-08-20T21:34:58Z",
"published": "2026-08-20T21:34:58Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/axllent/mailpit/security/advisories/GHSA-8r62-w5wh-fc5m"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/axllent/mailpit/commit/fbe5e006c3f1682b819df58b4a932d7a84920be9"
},
{
"type": "PACKAGE",
"url": "https://github.com/axllent/mailpit"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/axllent/mailpit/releases/tag/v1.30.6"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
],
"summary": "Mailpit: WebSocket origin check bypass via percent-encoded path (regression of CVE-2026-22689)"
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.