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Crawl4AI Has Local File Inclusion in Docker API via file:// URLs

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jan 16, 2026 in unclecode/crawl4ai

Package

pip crawl4ai (pip)

Affected versions

< 0.8.0

Patched versions

0.8.0

Description

A local file inclusion vulnerability exists in the Crawl4AI Docker API. The /execute_js, /screenshot, /pdf, and /html endpoints accept file:// URLs, allowing attackers to read arbitrary files from the server filesystem.

Attack Vector:

POST /execute_js
{
    "url": "file:///etc/passwd",
    "scripts": ["document.body.innerText"]
}

Impact

An unauthenticated attacker can:

  • Read sensitive files (/etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, application configs)
  • Access environment variables via /proc/self/environ
  • Discover internal application structure
  • Potentially read credentials and API keys

Workarounds

  1. Disable the Docker API
  2. Add authentication to the API
  3. Use network-level filtering

References

@unclecode unclecode published to unclecode/crawl4ai Jan 16, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jan 16, 2026
Reviewed Jan 16, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS score

Weaknesses

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

No known CVE

GHSA ID

GHSA-vx9w-5cx4-9796

Source code

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