CVE-2026-81030: Mage AI does not confine the paths accepted by its browser-items API to the project directory.

Mage AI does not confine the paths accepted by its browser-items API to the project directory.

Mage AI does not confine the paths accepted by its browser-items API to the project directory. BrowserItemResource in mage_ai/api/resources/BrowserItemResource.py passes a caller-supplied path to the filesystem read and write helpers without calling the containment helper that the sibling FileContentResource and FileResource classes both use, so the resource contains no such call while those two contain several. A user holding the Viewer role, which grants read access within the project and nothing outside it, can therefore read any file the server process can read by supplying an absolute path. The permission model that would otherwise separate roles is not consulted for this route in the default configuration, because the setting that enables it defaults to false. Callers holding the Editor role additionally write through the same unconfined path, though that role is already able to execute code by design, so the boundary crossed by this flaw is the read available to the Viewer role.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by VulnCheck

What it means for a small business

If your business uses mage-ai, install the vendor's update. If you're not sure whether you use it, ask whoever manages your computers.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.48%, higher than 41% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

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Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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