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Pydantic AI has Stored XSS via Path Traversal in Web UI CDN URL

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Feb 6, 2026 in pydantic/pydantic-ai • Updated Feb 6, 2026

Package

pip pydantic-ai (pip)

Affected versions

>= 1.34.0, < 1.51.0

Patched versions

1.51.0
pip pydantic-ai-slim (pip)
>= 1.34.0, < 1.51.0
1.51.0

Description

Summary

A Path Traversal vulnerability in the Pydantic AI web UI allows an attacker to serve arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the application by crafting a malicious URL. If a victim clicks the link or visits it via an iframe, attacker-controlled code executes in their browser, enabling theft of chat history and other client-side data.

This vulnerability only affects applications that use:

  • Agent.to_web to serve a chat interface
  • clai web to serve a chat interface from the CLI

These are typically run locally (on localhost), but may also be deployed on a remote server.

Description

The web UI serves its frontend HTML by fetching it from a CDN. In affected versions, the CDN URL is constructed using a version query parameter from the request URL. This parameter is not validated, allowing path traversal sequences that cause the server to fetch and serve attacker-controlled HTML/JavaScript from an arbitrary source on the same CDN, instead of the legitimate chat UI package.

Who Is Affected

Projects are affected if your application uses Agent.to_web or clai web to serve the Pydantic AI chat interface.

Attack Scenario

  1. An attacker crafts a URL pointing to the victim's Pydantic AI web UI instance (either localhost with the known port, or a remote server endpoint) with a malicious version query parameter containing path traversal sequences.

  2. The attacker gets the victim to visit this URL — directly via a link, through a redirect, or by embedding it in an iframe.

  3. When the victim's browser loads the page, the server fetches and serves attacker-controlled HTML/JavaScript instead of the legitimate chat UI.

  4. The attacker's JavaScript executes in the victim's browser in the context of the Pydantic AI web application, with access to:

    • Chat history stored in localStorage (all user messages and AI responses)
    • Session cookies that are not set as HttpOnly, if authentication middleware is configured

Remediation

Upgrade to Patched Version

Upgrade to the patched version or later. The fix removes the user-controllable version parameter entirely. The CDN URL is now hardcoded at startup and cannot be influenced by request parameters.

A new html_source parameter is available on Agent.to_web and create_web_app for applications that need to customize the UI source (e.g., for enterprise environments, offline usage, or custom UI builds). This parameter is only settable in application code, not via query parameters.

References

@DouweM DouweM published to pydantic/pydantic-ai Feb 6, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Feb 6, 2026
Reviewed Feb 6, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Feb 6, 2026
Last updated Feb 6, 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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(2nd percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Learn more on MITRE.

Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

The product does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes user-controllable input before it is placed in output that is used as a web page that is served to other users. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-25640

GHSA ID

GHSA-wjp5-868j-wqv7

Source code

Credits

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