NASA AIT-GUI Flaws Could Let Unauthenticated Attackers Issue Spacecraft Commands

Security researchers at Cycode have disclosed a chain of vulnerabilities in AIT-GUI, the browser-based operator console for NASA/JPL’s open-source AMMOS Instrument Toolkit. These flaws could allow unauthenticated attackers to issue arbitrary commands to spacecraft and instrument command buses. The issues are tracked as GHSA-p9r8-2q67-fp86 with a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.4, affecting AIT-GUI versions 2.5.1 and earlier. A related CVE, CVE-2026-60112, rated 9.3 on CVSS v4, was published earlier and covers the same missing authentication defect.

The vulnerabilities stem from the AIT-GUI web server binding to 0.0.0.0 on port 8080 by default, exposing state-changing routes without authentication, authorization, or CSRF protection. Attackers can issue commands via POST /cmd, execute server-side scripts via POST /script/run (including path traversal), and run command sequences via POST /seq. The issues are classified as CWE-306, CWE-352, and CWE-22.

AIT-GUI 2.5.2, released on August 12, 2026, addresses these issues by binding to localhost by default, adding same-origin checks for state-changing requests, and confining script and sequence paths. However, The Hacker News confirmed that authentication is still not required for command, script, or sequence endpoints, and the latest PyPI release remains 2.4.1.

No exploitation has been reported, and no specific missions are named as affected. The advisory highlights the growing role of AI-assisted code analysis in vulnerability research, with the fix commit co-authored by Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8 model.