Is this vulnerability remotely exploitable over the network?

Yes. If an attacker can reach the Pi-hole Admin Interface and send crafted POST requests to the affected endpoint, they can exploit the vulnerability remotely, subject to any authentication or network access controls in place.

Does an attacker need valid credentials to exploit this?

In many typical deployments, changing settings via `savesettings.php` is tied to the authenticated admin session, so valid credentials or session hijacking may be required. However, if the admin interface is exposed without proper authentication or is misconfigured, an unauthenticated attacker could potentially exploit the flaw.

What is the safest general fix pattern for this kind of issue?

The safest pattern is to remove direct shell invocation from HTTP request paths: use high-level APIs rather than shell commands, strictly allow-list acceptable parameter values (such as known theme names), and never concatenate raw user input into command strings.

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.8)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Pi-hole Admin Interface savesettings.php

CVE-2026-33765

Published:

Mar 27, 2026

Status:

Analyzed

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

NDV

Recent Vulnerabilities

CWE-77;CWE-78

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU CGI Handler setAccessDeviceCfg

Remote Code Execution on the Router

April 12, 2026

CWE-77;CWE-78

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU CGI setLedCfg Handler

Remote Code Execution on the Router

April 12, 2026

Vulnerability Type

Category:

OS Command Injection

CWE:

CWE-78

Impact:

Remote Code Execution with Elevated Privileges

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.8)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

OS Command Injection

CWE:

CWE-78

Impact:

Remote Code Execution with Elevated Privileges

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.8)

CVSS Version:

3.1

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Ask AI for summary of CodeAnt

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Pi-hole Admin Interface savesettings.php

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Recent Vulnerabilities

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU CGI Handler setAccessDeviceCfg

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU CGI setLedCfg Handler

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

Ship clean & secure code faster

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