High · published August 24, 2026
A path traversal vulnerability was found in AWX's project archive extraction. The project_archive action plugin extracts zip and tar archive members by joining the project directory path with the member filename without performing path normalization, boundary validation, or rejecting directory traversal sequences. A malicious archive containing members with path traversal components can write files to arbitrary locations on the execution node's filesystem outside the intended project directory. An attacker who controls the archive content, either through a compromised upstream source, a malicious archive URL, or a man-in-the-middle attack on a plain HTTP connection, can achieve arbitrary file writes as the user performing the extraction, potentially leading to remote code execution through mechanisms such as cron files, SSH authorized keys, or playbook content injection.