CVE-2026-54617
Summary
An unauthenticated path traversal in the LaunchServer HTTP file server (FileServerHandler) lets any remote actor read any file readable by the LaunchServer process (e.g. ../../../../etc/passwd). This is a generic arbitrary-file-read primitive, so the fix must address the traversal itself, not any specific file.
The readable files include the server's own secrets, which turns this from information disclosure into full compromise: the ECDSA private key that signs access JWTs (.keys/ecdsa_id), the refresh-token salt (.keys/legacySalt), and LaunchServer.json (database credentials). With the signing key an attacker mints a valid access token for any account, including admins. That is a full authentication bypass. Pre-auth, default config, port 9274.
Affected: GravitLauncher LaunchServer ≤ 5.7.11 (the LaunchServer application; the published pro.gravit.launcher:*-api Maven artifacts do not contain the vulnerable code).
Details
In FileServerHandler.channelRead0:
path = Paths.get(IOHelper.getPathFromUrlFragment(uri)).normalize().toString().substring(1); // line 194
File file = base.resolve(path).toFile(); // line 200 - no second normalize()
substring(1) blindly strips a leading slash, assuming the request-target always starts with /. Netty's HttpServerCodec accepts a request-target without a leading slash verbatim (decoderResult().isSuccess() == true). For such a target, normalize() cannot collapse the leading .., substring(1) turns ../ into ./ (leaving the remaining ..), and base.resolve(path), which is not re-normalized, resolves outside updatesDir.
file.isHidden() (line 201) is checked only on the final path component, so targets that don't start with a dot (ecdsa_id, rsa_id, legacySalt, LaunchServer.json) are served even with showHiddenFiles=false.
The file server is enabled by default (netty.fileServerEnabled=true) an
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Advisory coverage (1)
- criticalGHSA-5g75-477j-2c2f: LaunchServer FileServerHandler has an unauthenticated path traversal issueghsa · 2026-07-02
External references
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