honojs/hono · Security
hono: Path traversal in `serve-static` on Windows via encoded backslash (`%5C`)
- GHSA ID
- GHSA-wwfh-h76j-fc44
- CVE ID
- CVE-2026-54286
- Severity
- medium
- Published
- Updated
- CVSS
- 5.9 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- CVSS v3
- 5.9 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Description
Summary
On Windows hosts, an encoded backslash (%5C) in the request path decodes to \, which the Windows path resolver treats as a separator. serve-static then resolves a single URL segment such as admin\secret.txt into a nested file under the root and serves it, letting an attacker read static files meant to be protected behind prefix-mounted middleware. Directory escape (..) remains blocked.
Details
The router splits paths only on /, so /admin%5Csecret.txt is one segment and middleware on /admin/* does not run. The serve-static guard rejects ./.. and consecutive separators but lets a lone \ through; on Windows the file resolver re-splits it into the protected subtree.
This affects Windows hosts serving static files via the Node, Bun, or Deno adapters that guard a static subtree with prefix-mounted middleware.
Impact
An unauthenticated attacker can read static files under a middleware-guarded prefix on Windows hosts. The read stays within the configured root; escape outside the root is not possible.
CWEs
- CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')