RCE in Cern Indico
CVE-2026-33046
Indico is an event management system that uses Flask-Multipass, a multi-backend authentication system for Flask. In versions prior to 3.3.12, due to vulnerabilities in TeXLive and obscure LaTeX syntax that allowed circumventing Indico's LaTeX sanitizer, it is possible to use specially-crafted LaTeX snippets which can read local files or execute code with the privileges of the user running Indico on the server. Note that if server-side LaTeX rendering is not in use (ie `XELATEX_PATH` was not set in `indico.conf`), this vulnerability does not apply. It is recommended to update to Indico 3.3.12 as soon as possible. It is also strongly recommended to enable the containerized LaTeX renderer (using `podman`), which isolates it from the rest of the system. As a workaround, remove the `XELATEX_PATH` setting from `indico.conf` (or comment it out or set it to `None`) and restart the `indico-uwsgi` and `indico-celery` services to disable LaTeX functionality.
Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)
EPSS: 0.008 (52.3th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 8.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Affected products
- Cern Indico
- Indico — versions < 3.3.12
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- security-advisories@github.com (x_refsource_CONFIRM, Patch, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
- security-advisories@github.com (Patch, x_refsource_MISC)
- security-advisories@github.com (Patch, x_refsource_MISC)
- security-advisories@github.com (Patch, x_refsource_MISC)
- security-advisories@github.com (Patch, x_refsource_MISC)
- security-advisories@github.com (Product, x_refsource_MISC, Release Notes)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-33046?
- CVE-2026-33046 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cern Indico, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2026-03-23.
- How severe is CVE-2026-33046?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.