CVE detail
CVE-2026-96656: Plex Media Server External Control of File Name or Path Vulnerability
Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog · back to feed
Vendor / product
Plex · Media Server
- Date added (KEV)
- Oct 20, 2026
- CISA due date
- Oct 23, 2026
- Ransomware campaign use
- Unknown
Required action
Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.
Vendor fix: Vendor advisory
Scorifya interpretation
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Plain English
Technical detail
From CISA
Plex Media Server contains an external control of file name or path vulnerability which can allow an admin user to write arbitrary files that may be executed on load. This vulnerability can be chained with CVE-2026-96652, CVE-2026-96654, and CVE-2026-96655.
https://forums.plex.tv/t/important-security-update-for-plex-media-server-v1-43-2-and-earlier/942319 ; ; BOD 26-04: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk ; Forensics Triage Requirements: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-implementation-guidance-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96656
See what attackers can see on your domain
This vulnerability is on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list, so it is being exploited in the wild right now. Scorifya can't test for Plex directly, but in about 30 seconds it shows what your own domain exposes publicly across TLS, security headers, DNS, and cookies: the surface attackers probe first.
SOC 2 compliance
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See Scorifya Controls →References
- https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server/30447/711Release Notes
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cisagov/CSAF/develop/csaf_files/IT/white/2026/va-26-266-01.jsonThird Party Advisory
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96656Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- https://zmain.info/blog/plex2shellThird Party Advisory
- https://www.boredhackerblog.info/2026/10/plex-vulnerabilities-being-exploited-in.html
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-96656
Other recent CVEs from Plex
- CVE-2026-96652Media Server, Plex Media Server Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) Vulnerability
- CVE-2026-96654Media Server, Plex Media Server Improper Neutralization of Encoded URI Schemes in a Web Page Vulnerability
- CVE-2026-96655Media Server, Plex Media Server Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-5741Media Server, Plex Media Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability