CVE-2026-24846

Out-of-directory symlink creation via archive extraction

Published Jan 29, 2026 · Updated Jan 29, 2026

Path traversal in Chainguard malcontent 1.8.0 through 1.20.2 allows attackers to create out-of-directory symlinks via crafted archives. The archive handler passes the symlink target and location to handleSymlink in the wrong order and fails to verify that targets resolve inside the extraction directory. Exploitation requires malcontent to scan a crafted tar or deb archive and permits filesystem links to be placed beyond the temporary extraction boundary.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.17%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Path traversal in Chainguard malcontent 1.8.0 through 1.20.2 allows attackers to create out-of-directory symlinks via crafted archives. The archive handler passes the symlink target and location to handleSymlink in the wrong order and fails to verify that targets resolve inside the extraction directory. Exploitation requires malcontent to scan a crafted tar or deb archive and permits filesystem links to be placed beyond the temporary extraction boundary.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-24846
Published
Jan 29, 2026
Updated
Jan 29, 2026
Vendor
Chainguard
Product
malcontent
Classifications
CWE-22, CWE-683, T1204.002
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 29, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jan 29, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=>= 1.8.0, < 1.20.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Chainguard · malcontentversion=>= 1.8.0, < 1.20.3

Published CVSS scores

5.0NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
5.5GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CWE-683Function Call With Incorrect Order of Arguments
T1204.002Malicious File

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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