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Atomicorp WAF Research Note: CVE-2026-76844

webpack-dev-middleware Path Traversal via Offset Slice on a Non-Slash-Terminated publicPath

CVE Details

Status: Attack Blocked by Atomicorp
  • Already protected by existing Atomicorp WAF rules
  • Protection status: Understanding Atomicorp WAF Protection Status
  • CVE: CVE-2026-76844
  • Name: webpack-dev-middleware Path Traversal via Offset Slice on a Non-Slash-Terminated publicPath
  • Severity: High
  • CVSS: 8.3 (v4.0) (High)
  • CVSS version: 4.0
  • CVSS source: VulnCheck CNA
  • CVSS vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
    • Attack vector: Network
    • Attack complexity: Low
    • Attack requirements: None
    • Privileges required: None
    • User interaction: Passive
    • Vulnerable-system confidentiality: High
    • Vulnerable-system integrity: None
    • Vulnerable-system availability: None
    • Subsequent-system confidentiality: High
    • Subsequent-system integrity: None
    • Subsequent-system availability: None
    • Scope: X
  • CWE: CWE-22 — Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (‘Path Traversal’)
  • Related CAPEC attack patterns (via MITRE CWE relationships): CAPEC-126 , CAPEC-64 , CAPEC-76 , CAPEC-78 , CAPEC-79
  • Vendor: webpack
  • Vulnerable product: webpack-dev-middleware
  • CVE published: 2026-08-24
  • CVE last modified: 2026-08-26
  • EPSS: 0.0037; 30.5th percentile (FIRST )
  • Latest Update: 2026-09-06
  • Selected Rule IDs observed: 347009
  • Matching rules: 1; rules with blocking actions: 1
  • Would-block Rule IDs: 347009
  • Request surfaces inspected: Request URI

Vulnerability Description

webpack-dev-middleware resolves a request to a local file in getFilenameFromUrl by testing the request pathname against a traversal guard and then slicing it at a fixed character offset. The guard, UP_PATH_REGEXP applied to path.normalize(./${pathname}), only matches “..” that stands as a whole path segment, while the containment test is the string comparison pathname.startsWith(publicPathPathname) and the file path is built as path.join(outputPath, pathname.slice(publicPathPathname.length)). When the configured publicPath has no trailing slash, a request such as GET /assets../.env against publicPath /assets yields the pathname /assets../.env, whose only dot-dot sits inside the segment “assets..” and so passes the guard, but the offset slice cuts within that segment and hands “../.env” to path.join, resolving one directory above outputPath. Reading a file from that path requires the middleware to be backed by the physical filesystem, which happens when writeToDisk is true or a custom outputFileSystem is supplied, since the default memfs volume holds only build output. Traversal depth is limited to a single directory because a separately delimited dot-dot segment is collapsed during URL parsing before the guard runs. The default publicPath value of “auto” resolves to “/” and is not affected. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2024-29180: the guard and offset slice were introduced by that fix and are present in every release from 5.3.4, 6.1.2 and 7.1.0 onward.

  1. Maintain the observed Atomicorp protections. Keep your Atomicorp commercial rules current and confirm that the selected observed rules (347009 ) have not been locally disabled. Atomicorp commercial rules are enabled by default. If you use Atomic WAF, review the applicable policy and rule settings.

  2. Apply the vendor’s remediation. WAF protection is defense in depth and does not replace upgrading or following the affected vendor’s guidance.

    • Affected versions: webpack webpack-dev-middleware versions through 5.3.4.
    • Affected versions: webpack webpack-dev-middleware versions through 6.1.3.
    • Affected versions: webpack webpack-dev-middleware versions through 7.4.5.
    • Affected versions: webpack webpack-dev-middleware versions through 8.1.1.
    • No specific CNA/vendor solution or workaround is included in the current CVE Record . Review the vendor’s security advisories and supported-release guidance before making changes.

  3. Validate after changes. Confirm rule updates are current, review WAF events for the affected application, and test application behavior after vendor upgrades, mitigations, or local policy changes.

Research Notes

Atomicorp WAF protections are designed around attack techniques and exploit behaviors, allowing existing protections to apply across multiple vulnerabilities without requiring a unique rule for every CVE.

Public Vulnerability References

Test or Research Source

  • Source: Atomicorp AI Research Framework
  • Tags: cve, derived, traversal, waf-probe

Research Note Context

This research note documents exploit-technique analysis associated with this vulnerability and references Atomicorp WAF protections observed during engineering review, testing, or validation activities.

Atomicorp security controls are generally designed to identify and mitigate attack techniques and exploit behaviors rather than individual CVE identifiers. As a result, protections developed for one vulnerability may also apply to related attack variants and future vulnerabilities using similar techniques.

Learn More

Atomicorp develops commercially supported security technologies for web applications, servers, endpoints, workloads, and legacy enterprise platforms.

Organizations interested in protecting systems against exploit techniques associated with vulnerabilities such as this one can learn more about:

  • Atomic ModSecurity Rules: commercially maintained WAF rules for ModSecurity deployments, including protections for web attacks, bots, scanners, malware, exploitation attempts, and emerging vulnerability classes.
  • Atomic WAF: an enterprise web application firewall with Atomicorp rules, centralized management, reporting, authentication controls, and operational tooling.
  • Atomic ModSecurity Integrator: a special licensing option for MSPs, MSSPs, OEMs, VARs, reverse proxy providers, and other integrators who want to incorporate Atomicorp ModSecurity rule technology into their own products or services.
  • Atomic OSSEC: an enterprise OSSEC-based intrusion detection, compliance, and security monitoring platform.
  • Atomic Protector: workload protection for Linux, web, cloud, data center, and hybrid environments.

For additional information, product evaluations, or technical discussions, visit https://www.atomicorp.com/ or https://modsecurity.io/ .