CVE-2026-35465 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2026-35465
Vulnerability Scoring

7.5
/10
Very High Risk

Highly exploitable, CVE-2026-35465 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: High
    Exploits require significant effort and special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Network
    Vulnerability is exploitable over a network without physical access.
  • Privileges Required: None
    No privileges are required for exploitation.
  • Scope: Unchanged
    Exploit remains within the originally vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: Required
    User interaction is necessary for successful exploitation.

CVE-2026-35465 Details

Status: Analyzed

Last updated: 🕡 23 Apr 2026, 18:31 UTC
Originally published on: 🕐 18 Apr 2026, 01:16 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 5 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

security-advisories@github.com

CVSS3 Type

Secondary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE-2026-35465 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2026-35465: SecureDrop Client is a desktop app for journalists to securely communicate with sources and handle submissions on the SecureDrop Workstation. In versions 0.17.4 and below, a compromised SecureDrop Server can achieve code execution on the Client's virtual machine (sd-app) by exploiting improper filename validation in gzip archive extraction, which permits absolute paths and enables overwriting critical files like the SQLite database. Exploitation requires prior compromise of the dedicated SecureDrop Server, which itself is hardened and only accessible via Tor hidden services. Despite the high attack complexity, the vulnerability is rated High severity due to its significant impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability of decrypted source submissions. This issue is similar to CVE-2025-24888 but occurs through a different code path, and a more robust fix has been implemented in the replacement SecureDrop Inbox codebase. The issue has been fixed in version 0.17.5.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2026-35465

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2026-35465 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2026-35465

CVE-2026-35465 presents a challenge to exploit due to its high attack complexity, but the absence of privilege requirements still makes it a viable target for skilled attackers. A thorough security review is advised.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2026-35465, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2026-35465, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: High
    Exploiting CVE-2026-35465 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
  • Integrity: High
    CVE-2026-35465 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
  • Availability: High
    CVE-2026-35465 can disrupt system operations, potentially causing complete denial of service (DoS).

CVE-2026-35465 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-73

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Subverting Environment Variable Values CAPEC-13 The adversary directly or indirectly modifies environment variables used by or controlling the target software. The adversary's goal is to cause the target software to deviate from its expected operation in a manner that benefits the adversary.
  • Leverage Alternate Encoding CAPEC-267 An adversary leverages the possibility to encode potentially harmful input or content used by applications such that the applications are ineffective at validating this encoding standard.
  • Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-64 This attack targets the encoding of the URL combined with the encoding of the slash characters. An attacker can take advantage of the multiple ways of encoding a URL and abuse the interpretation of the URL. A URL may contain special character that need special syntax handling in order to be interpreted. Special characters are represented using a percentage character followed by two digits representing the octet code of the original character (%HEX-CODE). For instance US-ASCII space character would be represented with %20. This is often referred as escaped ending or percent-encoding. Since the server decodes the URL from the requests, it may restrict the access to some URL paths by validating and filtering out the URL requests it received. An attacker will try to craft an URL with a sequence of special characters which once interpreted by the server will be equivalent to a forbidden URL. It can be difficult to protect against this attack since the URL can contain other format of encoding such as UTF-8 encoding, Unicode-encoding, etc.
  • URL Encoding CAPEC-72 This attack targets the encoding of the URL. An adversary can take advantage of the multiple way of encoding an URL and abuse the interpretation of the URL.
  • Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls CAPEC-76 An attacker manipulates inputs to the target software which the target software passes to file system calls in the OS. The goal is to gain access to, and perhaps modify, areas of the file system that the target software did not intend to be accessible.
  • Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-78 This attack targets the use of the backslash in alternate encoding. An adversary can provide a backslash as a leading character and causes a parser to believe that the next character is special. This is called an escape. By using that trick, the adversary tries to exploit alternate ways to encode the same character which leads to filter problems and opens avenues to attack.
  • Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-79 This attack targets the encoding of the Slash characters. An adversary would try to exploit common filtering problems related to the use of the slashes characters to gain access to resources on the target host. Directory-driven systems, such as file systems and databases, typically use the slash character to indicate traversal between directories or other container components. For murky historical reasons, PCs (and, as a result, Microsoft OSs) choose to use a backslash, whereas the UNIX world typically makes use of the forward slash. The schizophrenic result is that many MS-based systems are required to understand both forms of the slash. This gives the adversary many opportunities to discover and abuse a number of common filtering problems. The goal of this pattern is to discover server software that only applies filters to one version, but not the other.
  • Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-80 This attack is a specific variation on leveraging alternate encodings to bypass validation logic. This attack leverages the possibility to encode potentially harmful input in UTF-8 and submit it to applications not expecting or effective at validating this encoding standard making input filtering difficult. UTF-8 (8-bit UCS/Unicode Transformation Format) is a variable-length character encoding for Unicode. Legal UTF-8 characters are one to four bytes long. However, early version of the UTF-8 specification got some entries wrong (in some cases it permitted overlong characters). UTF-8 encoders are supposed to use the "shortest possible" encoding, but naive decoders may accept encodings that are longer than necessary. According to the RFC 3629, a particularly subtle form of this attack can be carried out against a parser which performs security-critical validity checks against the UTF-8 encoded form of its input, but interprets certain illegal octet sequences as characters.

Vulnerable Configurations

  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.0.13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.1.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.4.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.4.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.6.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.7.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.7.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.9.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.9.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.9.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.9.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.9.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.9.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.9.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.9.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.2:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.2:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.10.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.11.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.11.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.11.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.11.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.11.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.11.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.13.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.13.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.13.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.13.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.13.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.13.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.14.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.14.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.14.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.14.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.14.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.14.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.14.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.14.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.15.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.15.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.15.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.15.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.16.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.16.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:freedom:securedrop-client:0.17.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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