Amazon amazon-ssm-agent prior 3.3.4515.0 aws:downloadContent plugin path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as very critical has been found in Amazon amazon-ssm-agent prior 3.3.4515.0. This affects an unknown part of the component aws:downloadContent plugin. The manipulation results in path traversal. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-81849. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical has been found in Amazon amazon-ssm-agent prior 3.3.4515.0. Affected is an unknown part of the component aws:downloadContent plugin. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as 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. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory in the aws:downloadContent plugin in amazon-ssm-agent before 3.3.4515.0 might allow an authenticated remote user whose ssm:SendCommand permission is restricted to the AWS-DownloadContent document, to write arbitrary files outside the intended download directory with root privileges, via crafted object keys in the S3 source the document is directed to retrieve. This issue may lead to arbitrary code execution as root if specific sensitive files are overwritten. To remediate this issue, customers should upgrade amazon-ssm-agent to version 3.3.4515.0 or later.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-81849 since 08/27/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/28/2026). This vulnerability is assigned to T1006 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Vendor

• Amazon

Name

• amazon-ssm-agent

Version

• <3.3.4515.0

License

• commercial

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒

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Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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