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Critical · 9.1 CVE-2026-84939 EUVD-2026-75251GHSA-27j2-h3m2-8237

Apache FreeMarker, Apache FreeMarker: A malformed locale may be exploitable for path traversal attacks

Published Sep 10, 2026 · Updated Sep 10, 2026 · Assigned by apache

Description

Path traversal vulnerability in Apache FreeMarker template loading mechanism, if the attacker can specify an arbitrary malformed locale identifier to FreeMarker, and the localized lookup configuration setting is enabled (it's by default enabled).

This issue affects Apache FreeMarker from 2.2.0 through 2.3.34.

Users are recommended to upgrade to version 2.3.35. Disabling localized lookup in previous versions also mitigates this.

Note that even in versions affected by this vulnerability, the files that can be loaded remain restricted by the TemplateLoader that FreeMarker is configured to use. In particular, FileTemplateLoader prevents attempts to traverse outside the baseDir specified in its constructor. Other TemplateLoader implementations may allow access outside their designated base directory, but they are still constrained by the underlying storage mechanism—for example, a loader wrapping a Java class loader can only access resources that the class loader can load, while one wrapping a web application context can only access resources available through that context.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Apache Software Foundation Apache FreeMarker 2.2.0 – ≤ 2.3.34 2.3.35

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
Debian 13 libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
Debian 12 libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS libfreemarker-java No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS libfreemarker-java No fix yet —

Wolfi

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Wolfi rolling keycloak-26.6 +1 26.6.7-r3 —

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
Maven org.freemarker:freemarker >= 2.2.0, < 2.3.35 2.3.35 GHSA-27j2-h3m2-8237

Advisories 2

References