CVE-2023-52076: mate-desktop atril Path Traversal

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-52076 is a high (CVSS 8.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in mate-desktop atril. EPSS estimates a 1.08% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 64.7% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.

Timeline

1. 25-01-2024
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 17-06-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Atril Document Viewer is the default document reader of the MATE desktop environment for Linux. A path traversal and arbitrary file write vulnerability exists in versions of Atril prior to 1.26.2. This vulnerability is capable of writing arbitrary files anywhere on the filesystem to which the user opening a crafted document has access. The only limitation is that this vulnerability cannot be exploited to overwrite existing files, but that doesn't stop an attacker from achieving Remote Command Execution on the target system. Version 1.26.2 of Atril contains a patch for this vulnerability.

• CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')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.
• CWE-24Path Traversal: '../filedir'The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize "../" sequences that can resolve to a location that is outside of that directory.
• CWE-25Path Traversal: '/../filedir'The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize "/../" sequences that can resolve to a location that is outside of that directory.
• CWE-27Path Traversal: 'dir/../../filename'The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize multiple internal "../" sequences that can resolve to a location that is outside of that directory.