CVE-2026-94028 in Mealie
Summary
by MITRE • 09/20/2026
A weakness has been identified in mealie-recipes Mealie up to 3.25.1. Affected is the function payload.model_dump of the file mealie/routes/households/controller_group_recipe_actions.py of the component Recipe Action Trigger. Executing a manipulation of the argument url can lead to server-side request forgery. The attack can be executed remotely. The exploit has been made available to the public and could be used for attacks. Upgrading to version 3.26.0 is able to address this issue. This patch is called fb221afa258c8dd2c4ac95b1996c33ef9db3f477. The affected component should be upgraded.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/20/2026
A critical server-side request forgery vulnerability has been identified in Mealie, a recipe management application, affecting versions up to 3.25.1. This flaw resides within the payload.model_dump function located in the mealie/routes/households/controller_group_recipe_actions.py file, specifically impacting the Recipe Action Trigger component. The core technical issue stems from insufficient validation of user-supplied input passed as the url argument. When this parameter is processed by the application's serialization logic, it fails to adequately restrict or sanitize external URLs before they are utilized in subsequent HTTP requests initiated by the server itself. This lack of proper input validation allows an attacker to inject maliciously crafted URL values that direct the vulnerable server to make connections to arbitrary destinations under the attacker's control.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant due to its remote executability and the nature of server-side request forgery, commonly known as SSRF. An unauthenticated or authenticated remote attacker can exploit this weakness by manipulating the url argument during interactions with the Recipe Action Trigger endpoint. By doing so, the attacker forces the Mealie application server to send HTTP requests to internal network resources that are typically inaccessible from the public internet, such as cloud metadata services, internal databases, or other sensitive backend systems. This capability enables potential data exfiltration, unauthorized access to internal services, and can serve as a pivot point for further lateral movement within the target's infrastructure. The availability of public exploit code exacerbates this risk, making it highly likely that automated attacks targeting known vulnerable instances are already occurring in the wild.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-918, which describes Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) flaws where a web application fetches a remote resource without validating the user-supplied URL. Furthermore, the exploitation technique maps to MITRE ATT&CK tactic T1557, specifically subtechnique T1557.001 for Adversary-in-the-Middle or Lateral Tool Transfer if used to relay attacks, though primarily it represents direct SSRF abuse as defined under T1583 which covers Acquire Infrastructure including servers. The ability to interact with internal services effectively bypasses network perimeter defenses that rely on IP-based restrictions, since the requests originate from a trusted server identity within the protected environment.
To mitigate this risk and restore security posture, immediate action is required by upgrading Mealie to version 3.26.0 or later. This specific release includes patch fb221afa258c8dd2c4ac95b1996c33ef9db3f477 which addresses the input validation deficiency in the recipe action trigger component. The update ensures that URL parameters are properly validated against a whitelist of allowed domains or protocols, preventing the server from making requests to unauthorized external hosts. Administrators should also consider implementing network-level controls such as egress filtering and web application firewalls to provide defense-in-depth measures against SSRF attempts until all instances can be patched. Regular security audits and dependency updates are recommended to maintain resilience against similar input validation weaknesses in other components of the application stack.