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Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

CVE-2026-24049

Medium
5.5/10

Summary

wheel is a command-line tool for manipulating Python wheel files, as defined in PEP 427. In versions through 0.46.1, the "unpack()" function is vulnerable to file permission modification through mishandling of file permissions after extraction. The logic blindly trusts the filename from the archive header for the chmod operation, even though the extraction process itself might have sanitized the path. Attackers can craft a malicious wheel file that, when unpacked, changes the permissions of critical system files (e.g., /etc/passwd, SSH keys, config files), allowing for Privilege Escalation or arbitrary code execution by modifying now-writable scripts. This issue has been fixed in version 0.46.2.

  • LOW
  • LOCAL
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • REQUIRED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • NONE

CWE-22 - Path Traversal

Path traversal (or directory traversal), is a vulnerability that allows malicious users to traverse the server's root directory, gaining access to arbitrary files and folders such as application code & data, back-end credentials, and sensitive operating system files. In the worst-case scenario, an attacker could potentially execute arbitrary files on the server, resulting in a denial of service attack. Such an exploit may severely impact the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of an application.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published