GHSA-5882-5rx9-xgxp

A critical remote code execution vulnerability exists in the Crawl4AI Docker API deployment. The /crawl endpoint accepts a hooks parameter containing Python code that is executed using exec(). The import builtin was included in the allowed builtins, allowing attackers to import arbitrary modules and execute system commands.

Attack Vector:

POST /crawl
{
  "urls": ["https://example.com"],
  "hooks": {
    "code": {
      "on_page_context_created": "async def hook(page, context, **kwargs):\n    __import__('os').system('malicious_command')\n    return page"
    }
  }
}

Impact

An unauthenticated attacker can:

• Execute arbitrary system commands
• Read/write files on the server
• Exfiltrate sensitive data (environment variables, API keys)
• Pivot to internal network services
• Completely compromise the server

Mitigation

1. Upgrade to v0.8.0 (recommended)
2. If unable to upgrade immediately:

• Disable the Docker API
• Block /crawl endpoint at network level
• Add authentication to the API

Fix Details

1. Removed import from allowed_builtins in hook_manager.py
2. Hooks disabled by default (CRAWL4AIHOOKSENABLED=false)
3. Users must explicitly opt-in to enable hooks

Credits

Discovered by Neo by ProjectDiscovery (https://projectdiscovery.io)