pypa setuptools up to 78.1.0 PackageIndex path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in pypa setuptools up to 78.1.0. It has been declared as critical. This affects an unknown part of the component PackageIndex. Such manipulation leads to path traversal. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2025-47273. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in pypa setuptools up to 78.1.0. Affected by this issue is some unknown processing of the component PackageIndex. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-22. The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Impacted is integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

setuptools is a package that allows users to download, build, install, upgrade, and uninstall Python packages. A path traversal vulnerability in `PackageIndex` is present in setuptools prior to version 78.1.1. An attacker would be allowed to write files to arbitrary locations on the filesystem with the permissions of the process running the Python code, which could escalate to remote code execution depending on the context. Version 78.1.1 fixes the issue.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-47273 since 05/05/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1006.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 237219 (SUSE SLES12 Security Update : python36-setuptools (SUSE-SU-2025:01693-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 78.1.1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 250a6d17978f9f6ac3ac887091f2d32886fbbb0b is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (237219), EUVD (EUVD-2025-15591) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2025-1433). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Fedora Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• RESF Rocky Linux
• IBM App Connect Enterprise
• NetApp ActiveIQ Unified Manager
• IBM InfoSphere Information Server
• Red Hat OpenShift
• IBM Business Automation Workflow
• Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
• IBM Tivoli Network Manager

Productinfo

Vendor

• pypa

Name

• setuptools

Version

• 78.0
• 78.1.0

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/

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Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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