chainguard-dev malcontent up to 1.20.2 Tar handleSymlink path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in chainguard-dev malcontent up to 1.20.2. Impacted is the function handleSymlink of the component Tar Handler. This manipulation causes path traversal. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-24846. The attack is restricted to local execution. No exploit exists. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in chainguard-dev malcontent up to 1.20.2. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function handleSymlink of the component Tar Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is 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. As an impact it is known to affect integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-24846 since 01/27/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1006 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 1.20.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 259fca5abc004f3ab238895463ef280a87f30e96 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 vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2026-4947). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

• chainguard-dev

Name

• malcontent

Version

• 1.20.0
• 1.20.1
• 1.20.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent/

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Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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