What is CVE-2026-72842?

CVE-2026-72842 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Openwrt Luci, classified under External Control of File Name or Path. CVSS score: 9.9/10. Published 2026-08-13.

How severe is CVE-2026-72842?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.9 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Openwrt Luci

CVE-2026-72842

luci-app-lxc contains an ACL inconsistency vulnerability that allows low-privileged authenticated LuCI users to access backend container management routes without proper authorization checks. Attackers can exploit path traversal via `/.%2E` in the `lxc_name` parameter to escape container directories and control host-side scripts executed through `lxc.hook.start-host`, achieving root code execution on the OpenWrt host.

Published 2026-08-13 · last modified 2026-09-09.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.9 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.006 (47.4th percentile), scored 2026-09-28.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 47th percentile — 47.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.006 · change: +0.002

Affected products

Openwrt Luci

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-73 — External Control of File Name or Path

References

github.com/openwrt/luci/security/advisories/GHSA-jf59-v86x-fwf2 (vendor-advisory)
www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openwrt-luci-app-lxc-acl-inconsistency-authenticat… (third-party-advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72842?: CVE-2026-72842 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Openwrt Luci, classified under External Control of File Name or Path. CVSS score: 9.9/10. Published 2026-08-13.
How severe is CVE-2026-72842?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.9 out of 10.