CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2026-9181 — Esri ArcGIS Server contains a directory traversal vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.8

Esri ArcGIS Server contains a directory traversal vulnerability. ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes is not impacted. An unauthenticated attacker could exploit this issue by sending crafted path parameters. Successful exploitation could allow overwriting sensitive files on the system. Abuse of this issue can allow full administrative access to ArcGIS Server, with high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This issue impacts all versions of ArcGIS Server on Windows and Linux 12.0 and prior. This issue does not impact ArcGIS Enterprise for Kubernetes.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2026-07-06
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
windows/system
Weaknesses
CWE-22

Affected products

  • esri / arcgis_server

Matched remediation archetype

Path traversal, unsafe upload, and file handling

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Trace untrusted filenames, archive entries, URLs, and path segments into read, write, include, extraction, and upload operations.
  • Identify filesystem roots, mount permissions, symbolic-link behavior, archive handling, and whether uploaded content is web-accessible or executable.
  • Review canonicalization and containment checks across supported operating systems and storage backends.

Remediate safely

  • Generate server-side storage identifiers and resolve paths beneath a fixed root using filesystem-aware containment checks.
  • Reject absolute, parent-relative, alternate-separator, device, link, and archive entries that escape the intended root.
  • Store uploads outside executable or served paths, validate type and size, and use private atomic temporary files.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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