CVE-2023-52138: mate-desktop engrampa Path Traversal: '/../filedir'

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-52138 is a critical (CVSS 9.6) Path Traversal: '/../filedir' vulnerability in mate-desktop engrampa. EPSS estimates a 1.67% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 76.5% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.

Timeline

1. 05-02-2024
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 17-06-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.

• 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-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-59Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.