CVE-2026-15815: CVE Record
Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise did not safely resolve symbolic links when extracting plugin archives. A crafted plugin archive can chain relative symbolic link entries to escape the plugin installation directory, writing arbitrary files and an executable backend binary outside that directory. The dropped executable runs with the privileges of the Grafana server process, resulting in remote code execution.
Plugin archives are extracted before their signature is verified, so a valid plugin signature does not prevent the write. An operator can therefore be affected by installing a plugin that appears legitimate, as well as by installing a plugin from an arbitrary archive using grafana-cli, the GFINSTALLPLUGINS environment variable, or preinstall configuration.
Grafana Enterprise is affected because it includes the same plugin extraction code as Grafana OSS.
Other sources
Short description of the vulnerability: Grafana did not safely resolve symbolic links when extracting plugin archives. A crafted archive can chain relative symbolic-link entries to escape the plugin installation directory, write arbitrary files, and drop an executable backend binary outside that directory. The dropped executable runs with the privileges of the Grafana server process, which is remote code execution. Plugin archives are extracted before their signature is verified, so a valid signature does not prevent the write, and the payload also passes catalogue validation and signing. An instance can therefore be affected by installing a plugin that appears legitimate, as well as by installing a plugin from an arbitrary archive using grafana-cli, the GFINSTALLPLUGINS environment variable, or preinstall configuration.
Affected versions: Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise: 12.0.0 to 12.0.10, 12.1.0 to 12.1.10, 12.2.0 to 12.2.10, 12.3.0 to 12.3.11, 12.4.0 to 12.4.9, 13.0.0 to 13.0.7, 13.1.0 to 13.1.4, and 13.2.0.
Known mitigations:
Update to one of the private builds listed above. There is no configuration that fully mitigates this beforehand: plugin signing does not help, because extraction runs before signature verification, and catalogue review does not help, because the validator flattens the symbolic links and sees a benign plugin. Until you have updated, reduce exposure by not installing plugins from arbitrary archives, limiting installation to a vetted and pinned set of plugins, and keeping pluginadminenabled off where it is not needed.
— Red Hat
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
Upgrade
alpine/grafanato a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 12.4.14-r0 - Configuration
Keep plugin_admin_enabled off where plugin administration is not needed.
Grafana plugin_admin_enabled = off - Compensating control
Until Grafana is updated, do not install plugins from arbitrary archives; limit installation to a vetted, pinned set of plugins.
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Which installations are exposed to this issue?
Both Grafana OSS and Grafana Enterprise are affected because they use the same plugin extraction code. Exposure arises when a plugin archive is installed, including through grafana-cli, the GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS environment variable, or preinstall configuration.
What does an attacker need to exploit this vulnerability?
An attacker needs an operator to install a crafted plugin archive. Exploitation does not require the archive to be unsigned: plugin archives are extracted before signature verification, so an archive that appears legitimate can still trigger the unsafe extraction.
What is the impact if exploitation succeeds?
The crafted archive can use chained relative symbolic links to write arbitrary files and an executable backend binary outside the plugin installation directory. That binary runs with the privileges of the Grafana server process, enabling remote code execution.