CVE-2026-24846malcontent's archive extraction could write outside extraction directory
- 5.5MediumCVSS base score
- 0.19%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 92% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
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.
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 2 days later
· 2 days later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Medium5.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.19% · top 92% of all CVEs (15 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.5.
Affected products
- affected >= 1.8.0, < 1.20.3
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Gogithub.com/chainguard-dev/malcontentGHSA-923j-vrcg-hxwh (opens in a new tab)
References
References3
- https://github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent/security/advisories/GHSA-923j-vrcg-hxwh (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent/commit/259fca5abc004f3ab238895463ef280a87f30e96 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent/commit/a7dd8a5328ddbaf235568437813efa7591e00017 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-4947 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-923j-vrcg-hxwh (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-24846)Record last updated .