CVE-2026-42085

Description

### Summary OpenC3 COSMOS contains a design flaw in the `save_tool_config()` function that allows saving tool configuration files at arbitrary locations inside the shared `/plugins` directory tree by supplying crafted configuration filenames. Although the implementation sufficiently mitigates standard path traversal attacks, by canonicalizing filename to an absolute path, all plugins share this same root directory. That enables users to create arbitrary file structures and overwrite existing configuration files within the shared `/plugins` directory. ### Details In function `save_tool_config()` ([local_mode.rb](https://github.com/OpenC3/cosmos/blob/397abec0d57972881a2e8dc10902d0dce9c27f42/openc3/lib/openc3/utilities/local_mode.rb#L452)) responsible for saving user-supplied tool configuration, the desired saving directory is not sufficiently enforced, instead allowing writes inside entire `OPENC3_LOCAL_MODE_PATH`. ### PoC 1. Navigate to any tool that enables “Save Configuration” option in left-hand drop-down menu (here Limits Monitor as an example) 2. Save a new config with path traversal name using “../” sequences to escape desired directory (up to 3 levels high) 3. Observe new files created in /plugins directory by inspecting docker container directly (`openc3-COSMOS-cmd-tlm-api`) or using Bucket Explorer (`plugin_default`) <img width="811" height="584" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/015a59b4-8b18-4801-aef0-df4831d5c1c3" /> <img width="720" height="664" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8ca4a5b7-ee45-4c3b-99f6-f41f974a74a7" /> ### Impact Modifying the data of other plugins

How to fix CVE-2026-42085

To remediate CVE-2026-42085, upgrade the affected package to a fixed version below.

• —upgrade to 6.10.5 or later

Is CVE-2026-42085 being exploited?

Low — EPSS is 0.0%, meaning exploitation activity has not been observed at scale.

Affected packages (1)