CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2026-57223NVD status: Analyzed

suricata: Unquoted Search Path or Element

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2026-57223 is a high-severity unquoted search path or element vulnerability in suricata from OISF, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.0 out of 10. It can be exploited with local access to the system by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. Affected suricata versions: >= 8.0.0, < 8.0.6; < 7.0.17. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.15% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Check which version of suricata you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
  2. Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
OISFsuricata>= 8.0.0, < 8.0.6; < 7.0.17Not stated

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
LocalThe attacker needs local access or must trick a user into running something.
Attack complexity
HighSuccess depends on conditions outside the attacker's control.
Privileges required
LowA basic user account is enough.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (github.com).

Official description

Suricata is a network Intrusion Detection System, Intrusion Prevention System and Network Security Monitoring engine. Prior to 7.0.17 and 8.0.6, the Windows service installation and parameter-update logic in src/win32-service.c can pass an unquoted service ImagePath to CreateServiceA. When Suricata is installed below a path containing spaces and an earlier path component is writable by a local low-privileged attacker, Windows can execute an attacker-controlled program as LocalSystem, resulting in local privilege escalation. This issue is fixed in versions 8.0.6 and 7.0.17.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Unquoted Search Path or Element

The product uses a search path that contains an unquoted element, in which the element contains whitespace or other separators. This can cause the product to access resources in a parent path.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Properly quote the full search path before executing a program on the system.
  • Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174). Such errors could be used to bypass allowlist validation schemes by introducing dangerous inputs after they have been checked.

More Unquoted Search Path or Element vulnerabilities (CWE-428)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Other vulnerabilities in suricata

All suricata vulnerabilities

Recent Unquoted Search Path or Element vulnerabilities

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