Description

Crawl4AI is Vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in Docker API via Hooks Parameter 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"
    }
}...
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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

Upgrade to v0.8.0 (recommended)

If unable to upgrade immediately:

Disable the Docker API

Block /crawl endpoint at network level

Add authentication to the API

Fix Details

Removed __import__ from allowed_builtins in hook_manager.py

Hooks disabled by default (CRAWL4AI_HOOKS_ENABLED=false)

Users must explicitly opt-in to enable hooks

Credits

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

Aliases

References