Epic Games Unreal Engine up to 5.8.0 LaunchURL Blueprint Node insecure default initialization of resource

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in Epic Games Unreal Engine up to 5.8.0. This impacts the function UKismetSystemLibrary::LaunchURL of the component LaunchURL Blueprint Node. Such manipulation leads to insecure default initialization of resource. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-14765. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Epic Games Unreal Engine up to 5.8.0. Affected by this issue is the function UKismetSystemLibrary::LaunchURL of the component LaunchURL Blueprint Node. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a insecure default initialization of resource vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-1188. The product initializes or sets a resource with a default that is intended to be changed by the administrator, but the default is not secure. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Epic Games Unreal Engine versions up to and including 5.8.0 ship with an insecure default configuration for the LaunchURL Blueprint node (UKismetSystemLibrary::LaunchURL). The URL scheme filter (FURLRequestFilter) is empty by default, which permits all URL schemes. On Windows, this results in a call to ShellExecuteW() with the open verb, so a supplied file:/// URI causes the referenced file to be executed. Any Unreal Engine game that loads user-generated content containing Blueprints is vulnerable to command execution via a malicious local file or a remote file on a WebDAV share. This is an instance of CWE-1188 (Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default).

The advisory is shared for download at khaelkugler.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-14765 since 07/04/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/14/2026).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

• Epic Games

Name

• Unreal Engine

Version

• 5.0
• 5.1
• 5.2
• 5.3
• 5.4
• 5.5
• 5.6
• 5.7
• 5.8.0

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CPE 2.2info

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