---
id: CVE-2026-73249
title: calibre is an e-book manager
summary: >-
  calibre is an e-book manager. Prior to 9.12.0, the calibre Content Server
  endpoint POST /book-update-annotations/{library_id}/{book_id}/{fmt} in
  src/calibre/srv/books.py omits needs_db_write=True, causing Router.dispatch()
  to skip ctx.ch…
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-862
published: '2026-08-11'
updated: '2026-09-09'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-09T20:55:04.493'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-73249'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre/commit/71295e8b62801e1ccecaa4fac47e6942f11cfe1e
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre/releases/tag/v9.12.0'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre/security/advisories/GHSA-5x64-w63v-x2g6
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre/security/advisories/GHSA-5x64-w63v-x2g6
    label: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00436
epssPercentile: 0.35222
ingestedAt: '2026-09-09T21:22:45.530Z'
---

## Overview

calibre is an e-book manager. Prior to 9.12.0, the calibre Content Server endpoint POST /book-update-annotations/{library_id}/{book_id}/{fmt} in src/calibre/srv/books.py omits needs_db_write=True, causing Router.dispatch() to skip ctx.check_for_write_access() before update_annotations() passes attacker-controlled JSON to db.merge_annotations_for_book(), which allows a readonly user or an anonymous user on an unauthenticated deployment to persist unauthorized book annotation changes. This issue is fixed in version 9.12.0.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.