curl vulnerability

When asking curl to use a `.netrc` file to find credentials and at the same time specifying a URL with a username (without a password), like `https://user@example.com/`, curl could wrongly get and use the password for *another* user set in the `.netrc` file for that host if such a one exists and there is no match for the specified user.

Published 3 Jul 2026Updated 15 Sep 20266 sources
CVSS 9.1 ✓ VERIFIED REFERENCE

What happened

When asking curl to use a `.netrc` file to find credentials and at the same time specifying a URL with a username (without a password), like `https://user@example.com/`, curl could wrongly get and use the password for *another* user set in the `.netrc` file for that host if such a one exists and there is no match for the specified user.

Affected versions

curl: 8.11.1 through before 8.14.2 (semver); 8.15.0 through before 8.16.1 (semver); 8.17.0 through before 8.20.1 (semver); e9b9bbac22c26cf67316fa8e6c6b9e831af31949 through before 4ae1d7cc2643e4773a136395f12bc02fc6867854 (git); 8.20.0; 8.19.0; 8.18.0; 8.17.0; 8.16.0; 8.15.0; 8.14.1; 8.14.0; 8.13.0; 8.12.1; 8.12.0; 8.11.1 Fixed: See vendor advisory.

Why it matters

Review the vendor advisory and exposure of the affected product to determine operational impact.

Detection & mitigation

  • Apply vendor-provided updates or mitigations.
  • Review affected product exposure and access logs.

Public PoC references

RepositoryAuthorFirst seenReference
hackerone.comNVD reference2026-07-03Verified