Skip to content

elFinder MySQL has a SQL Injection in its Volume Driver (elFinderVolumeMySQL)

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 7, 2026 in Studio-42/elFinder • Updated May 11, 2026

Package

composer studio-42/elfinder (Composer)

Affected versions

<= 2.1.67

Patched versions

2.1.68

Description

Summary

An authenticated SQL injection vulnerability in the elFinder MySQL volume driver (elFinderVolumeMySQL) allows any logged-in user, including users with read-only access to the affected volume, to inject SQL through a crafted target file hash. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized data disclosure and denial of service.

This vulnerability only affects installations configured to use the MySQL volume driver. Installations using the default LocalFileSystem driver are not affected.

Description

A vulnerability in elFinder's MySQL volume driver (elFinderVolumeMySQL) allows authenticated SQL injection through a crafted file hash passed via the target parameter.

The issue is caused by two behaviors working together:

  1. File hashes are decoded without validating that the decoded value is a valid MySQL object identifier.
  2. The decoded value is then used in MySQL driver queries, including cacheDir(), _joinPath(), _stat(), and _fopen().

Because the MySQL storage schema uses numeric id and parent_id values, an authenticated user can supply a crafted hash that alters the intended SQL query logic. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized data disclosure and denial of service. The extent of impact depends on the privileges granted to the configured MySQL account.

This vulnerability only affects installations configured to use the MySQL volume driver. Installations using the default LocalFileSystem driver are not affected.

Impact

An authenticated user, including a user with read-only access to the affected volume, can exploit this issue to:

  • disclose data accessible to the configured MySQL account, including file contents stored by the driver and database metadata
  • trigger denial of service through expensive or unexpectedly broad query results that can lead to excessive memory consumption

The severity of data exposure depends on the privileges granted to the configured MySQL account.

References

@nao-pon nao-pon published to Studio-42/elFinder May 7, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database May 11, 2026
Reviewed May 11, 2026
Last updated May 11, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

The product constructs all or part of an SQL command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended SQL command when it is sent to a downstream component. Without sufficient removal or quoting of SQL syntax in user-controllable inputs, the generated SQL query can cause those inputs to be interpreted as SQL instead of ordinary user data. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-44521

GHSA ID

GHSA-c3gj-q88f-7hqj

Source code

Credits

Loading Checking history
See something to contribute? Suggest improvements for this vulnerability.