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Privilege escalation through expressions in .htaccess in Apache HTTP Server

IdentifiersCVE-2026-44119CWE-269· Improper Privilege Management

CVE-2026-44119 is an improper privilege management vulnerability in Apache HTTP Server affecting versions 2.4.0 through 2.4.67, including 2.4.67 and earlier. The issue is described by Apache as an escalation of privilege through expressions in .htaccess across multiple modules. A local user who is permitted to author or control .htaccess content can abuse this behavior to cause Apache to read files using the privileges of the httpd worker process rather than being constrained to the author's intended privilege boundary. The result is unauthorized file read access in the security context of the web server process.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

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Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows a local .htaccess author to read files accessible to the Apache httpd user account. This can expose sensitive local data available to the web server process, undermine intended privilege separation between untrusted .htaccess authors and the server runtime, and constitute a local privilege escalation or information disclosure within the httpd security context.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

No specific workaround is provided in the available content. Apache's published guidance is to upgrade affected installations to 2.4.68 immediately.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade Apache HTTP Server to version 2.4.68 or later. Apache states that version 2.4.68 fixes this issue, with the fix identified in revision r1935017.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

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VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
Apache Software FoundationHttp Serverapplication

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What this page doesn’t show

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Threat actor evidence

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Associated malware

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Detection signatures

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Vendor-by-vendor mapping

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Social activity4

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