CriticalCVE-2026-84939

    Apache FreeMarker: Relative Path Traversal (CVE-2026-84939)

    Published Last modified Sources: CVE.org, OSV, Red Hat, BSI

    What is affected, what to do

    A flaw was found in Apache FreeMarker. A remote attacker could exploit a path traversal vulnerability in the template loading mechanism by providing a specially crafted, malformed locale identifier.

    Update freemarker to version 2.3.35.

    Affected
    • Apache FreeMarker lte 2.2.0..2.3.34

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    9.1

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    9.1

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org, OSV, Red Hat, BSI

    0.9 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 57.7

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    99.76 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

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    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

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    9.1 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    9.1
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

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    0.9 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

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    57.7
    High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

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    —
    Published
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-23

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    A flaw was found in Apache FreeMarker. A remote attacker could exploit a path traversal vulnerability in the template loading mechanism by providing a specially crafted, malformed locale identifier. This is possible if the localized lookup configuration setting is enabled, which is the default. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to access files outside the intended base directory, potentially leading to information disclosure or unauthorized file access, depending on the configured TemplateLoader.

    Source: NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities), redhat_csaf, BSI CSAF, BSI WID Portal

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
    Apache Software FoundationApache FreeMarker
    • 2.2.0 – ≤ 2.3.34
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    apachefreemarker
    • 2.2 – < 2.3.35
    • 2.3.35
    OracleCommunications
    • 7.5.0
    • 15.0.1.0.0
    • 26.1.202
    • 7.7.0
    • 25.1.100
    • 47.0.0.2.0
    • 7.0.0
    • 6
    • 6.1
    • 7.8.0
    • 24.2.4-25.2.000
    • 7.5.1
    • 25.2.100
    • 8.0-8.1
    • 8.0.1
    • 7.6.0
    • 14
    • 15.1.0.0.0
    • 25.1.200
    • 6.1.1-7.0.0
    • 25.2.200
    • 15.2.0.0.0
    • 11
    • 26.1.200
    • 25.2.202
    • 25.2.201
    • 15.0.0.0.0
    • 8.0-8.3
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    mavenorg.freemarker:freemarker
    • 2.3.17
    • 2.2.0
    • 2.3.24-incubating
    • 2.3.28
    • 2.3.23
    • 2.3.30
    • 2.3.22
    • 2.3.14
    • 2.3.20
    • 2.3.9
    • 2.3.26-incubating
    • 2.3.25-incubating
    • 2.3.13
    • 2.3.16
    • 2.3.21
    • 2.3.32
    • 2.3.34
    • 2.3.31
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    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-23Relative Path Traversal

      Base

      The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize sequences such as ".." that can resolve to a location that is outside of that directory.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-23

    References & sources

    Reanalysis & status changes

    Chronological NVD audit events for this CVE — reanalyses, CVSS updates, CPE diffs.

    1. Initial Analysisnvd@nist.gov

      • CPE Configuration: after OR *cpe:2.3:a:apache:freemarker:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 2.2 up to (excluding) 2.3.35
      • Reference Type: after Apache Software Foundation: https://lists.apache.org/thread/hrd7o2ylwkkswdyhyzllgqt0f80kyd5y Types: Mailing List, Vendor Advisory
      • Reference Type: after CVE: http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/08/2 Types: Mailing List, Third Party Advisory

    2. CVE Modified134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

      • CVSS V3.1: after AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
      • SSVC: after {"id":"CVE-2026-84939","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technical…

    3. New CVE Receivedsecurity@apache.org

      • Description: after Path traversal vulnerability in Apache FreeMarker template loading mechanism, if the attacker can specify an arbitrary malformed locale identifier to FreeMarker, and the localized lookup configuration setting is enabled (it's by default enabled). This issue affects Apache FreeMarker from 2.2.0 through 2.3.34. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 2.3.35. Disabling localized lookup in previous versions also mitigates this. Note that even in versions affected by this vulnerability, the files that can be loaded remain restricted by the TemplateLoader that FreeMarker is configured to use. In particular, FileTemplateLoader prevents attempts to traverse outside the baseDir specified in its constructor. Other TemplateLoader implementations may allow access outside their designated base directory, but they are still constrained by the underlying storage mechanism—for example, a loader wrapping a Java class loader can only access resources that the class loader can load, while one wrapping a web application context can only access resources available through that context.
      • CWE: after CWE-23
      • Affected: after New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/84xxx/CVE-2026-84939.json">CVE-2026-84939</a>
      • Reference: after https://lists.apache.org/thread/hrd7o2ylwkkswdyhyzllgqt0f80kyd5y

    4. CVE Modifiedaf854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

      • Reference: after http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/08/2
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