Missing Authentication for Critical Function in rclone - CVE-2026-49980
Published: June 8, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU133467
CSH Severity: High
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-49980
CWE-ID: CWE-306
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: rclone.org
Affected software:
rclone
rclone
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands.
The vulnerability exists due to missing authentication for a critical function in the rclone remote control file-serving handler when handling unauthenticated GET or HEAD requests to /[remote:path]/object paths with inline remote instantiation. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted request to execute arbitrary commands.
Exploitation requires the remote control API to be enabled and reachable, the --rc-serve flag to be in use, and global RC HTTP authentication to be absent.
How to mitigate CVE-2026-49980
Install security update from vendor's website.