CVE-2026-24846CWE-22CWE-683

malcontent's archive extraction could write outside extraction directory

Medium · published January 29, 2026

CVSS v3.1
5.5
EPSS
0%
Percentile
6.6
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

malcontent discovers supply-chain compromises through. context, differential analysis, and YARA. Starting in version 1.8.0 and prior to version 1.20.3, malcontent could be made to create symlinks outside the intended extraction directory when scanning a specially crafted tar or deb archive. The `handleSymlink` function received arguments in the wrong order, causing the symlink target to be used as the symlink location. Additionally, symlink targets were not validated to ensure they resolved within the extraction directory. Version 1.20.3 introduces fixes that swap handleSymlink arguments, validate symlink location, and validate symlink targets that resolve within an extraction directory.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
5.5 · MEDIUM
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00170 · 6.6th percentile
Weaknesses
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal'); CWE-683 · Function Call With Incorrect Order of Arguments
Published
2026-01-29T21:12Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 29 JAN 21:12Z
    malcontent's archive extraction could write outside extraction directory
    cvelistv5