OpenMRS up to 2.7.8/2.8.5 ModuleResourcesServlet moduleResources getFile path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in OpenMRS up to 2.7.8/2.8.5. Affected by this issue is the function getFile of the file /openmrs/moduleResources/ of the component ModuleResourcesServlet. Executing a manipulation can lead to path traversal. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-40075. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in OpenMRS up to 2.7.8/2.8.5. This vulnerability affects the function getFile of the file /openmrs/moduleResources/ of the component ModuleResourcesServlet. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-22. The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality. CVE summarizes:

OpenMRS Core is an open source electronic medical record system platform. In versions 2.7.8 and earlier and versions 2.8.0 through 2.8.5, the `/openmrs/moduleResources/{moduleid}` endpoint is vulnerable to a path traversal attack. The ModuleResourcesServlet constructs a filesystem path from user-controlled input without performing path boundary validation — the getFile() method concatenates the user-supplied path into an absolute filesystem path without calling normalize() or checking that the result stays within the allowed module resources directory. Because this endpoint serves static resources required for rendering the login page, it is not protected by authentication filters, allowing unauthenticated exploitation. An attacker can traverse directories and read arbitrary files from the server filesystem, including /etc/passwd and application configuration files containing database credentials. Successful exploitation requires the target deployment to run on Apache Tomcat versions prior to 8.5.31, where the ..; path parameter bypass is not mitigated by the container. Deployments on Tomcat 8.5.31 or later and Tomcat 9.0.10 or later are protected at the container level, though the underlying code defect remains. This issue has been fixed in versions after 2.7.8 (within the 2.7.x branch) and in version 2.8.6 and later.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-40075 since 04/09/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is required for a successful exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1006.

Upgrading to version 2.7.8 or 2.8.6 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2026-27508). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Health Information Software

Name

• OpenMRS

Version

• 2.7.0
• 2.7.1
• 2.7.2
• 2.7.3
• 2.7.4
• 2.7.5
• 2.7.6
• 2.7.7
• 2.7.8
• 2.8.0
• 2.8.1
• 2.8.2
• 2.8.3
• 2.8.4
• 2.8.5

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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