Pterodactyl's improper JWT scoping allows subuser to upload files when not explicitly granted `file.create` permissions

CISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.

No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.

Pterodactyl is a free, open-source game server management panel. Prior to Panel version 1.12.3 and Wings version 1.12.2, the Wings /upload/file endpoint accepted any valid panel-signed JWT that contained server_uuid, user_uuid, and unique_id claims without checking the token's intended purpose; because the Panel issues JWTs carrying those same claims for lower-privilege operations such as WebSocket authentication and file-download links, an authenticated subuser could reuse one of those tokens (for example a WebSocket token obtained with only the websocket.connect permission) by replaying it against /upload/file to write arbitrary files to the same server, despite never being granted the file.create permission. This issue is fixed in Panel version 1.12.3 and Wings version 1.12.2.

Source published

28 Jul 2026 15:42:56 UTC

Source modified

28 Jul 2026 16:39:43 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

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CVSS 3.1 · 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Pterodactyl is a free, open-source game server management panel. Prior to Panel version 1.12.3 and Wings version 1.12.2, the Wings /upload/file endpoint accepted any valid panel-signed JWT that contained server_uuid, user_uuid, and unique_id claims without checking the token's intended purpose; because the Panel issues JWTs carrying those same claims for lower-privilege operations such as WebSocket authentication and file-download links, an authenticated subuser could reuse one of those tokens (for example a WebSocket token obtained with only the websocket.connect permission) by replaying it against /upload/file to write arbitrary files to the same server, despite never being granted the file.create permission. This issue is fixed in Panel version 1.12.3 and Wings version 1.12.2.

Source published

28 Jul 2026 16:19:00 UTC

Source modified

24 Oct 2026 13:10:00 UTC

Observed here

25 Oct 2026 13:17:28 UTC

Source terms

NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained

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CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Secondary · 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

### Summary A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the Wings /upload/file endpoint due to insufficient validation of panel-signed JWTs. Wings accepts any valid panel-signed JWT containing `server_uuid`, `user_uuid`, and `unique_id`, regardless of the token’s intended purpose. Because the Panel issues JWTs with these same claims for other lower-privilege operations (such as WebSocket authentication and file download links), an authenticated subuser can reuse one of those tokens to upload arbitrary files without possessing the required `file.create` permission. ### Impact Any subuser with permission to connect to a server's console, download files, or download backups could reuse those tokens to upload arbitrary files to the _same server_. A user that does not have access to a server as a subuser is not able to arbitrarily upload files. ### Details The panel generated JWT tokens for various purposes: - https://github.com/pterodactyl/panel/blob/0f82c105201b192d229f6abd5827e2ee7e672a05/app/Services/Backups/DownloadLinkService.php#L33-L36 - https://github.com/pterodactyl/panel/blob/0f82c105201b192d229f6abd5827e2ee7e672a05/app/Http/Controllers/Api/Client/Servers/FileUploadController.php#L45 - https://github.com/pterodactyl/panel/blob/0f82c105201b192d229f6abd5827e2ee7e672a05/app/Http/Controllers/Api/Client/Servers/WebsocketController.php#L58-L61 - https://github.com/pterodactyl/panel/blob/0f82c105201b192d229f6abd5827e2ee7e672a05/app/Http/Controllers/Api/Client/Servers/FileController.php#L82-L85 Though as the actual purpose is not conveyed part of the JWT tokens, this introduces this vulnerability of being able to do non-intended actions due to the expected fields (i.e. `server_uuid`) on most endpoints being the same when parsing it on wings' side. ### PoC Create a new subuser that has the minimal amount of permissions on a server (`websocket.connect`). As that subuser, retrieve a websocket JWT token from the `GET /api/client/servers/[...]/websocket` endpoint (in my case, I manually just make a request under that user's browser session; you can probably just resend the /websocket request in browser console to get a fresh unused token). Using that websocket token, we can abuse this by directly using it in the `/upload/file` endpoint of the wings node instead of using it for websocket authentication: ```python3 import requests wings_url = 'http://[...]:8080' websocket_token = '[...]' res = requests.post(f'{wings_url}/upload/file', params = { 'token': websocket_token, }, files = { 'files': ('file-upload.txt', b'Hello, World!'), }) print(res.status_code, res.content) ``` Observe, that even though our subuser never has permissions outside viewing the console, they are able to write arbitrary files in the server. This pattern happens in a lot of other action, but this is probably the most interesting one.

Source published

28 Jul 2026 15:43:25 UTC

Source modified

18 Aug 2026 15:10:50 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Publisher rating · HIGH

Pterodactyl's improper JWT scoping allows subuser to upload files when not explicitly granted `file.create` permissions in github.com/pterodactyl/wings

Source published

18 Aug 2026 14:32:29 UTC

Source modified

18 Aug 2026 15:00:21 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

OSV · upstream source license applies

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · OSV · upstream source license applies. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.