CVE-2023-7216: gnu cpio Link Following

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-7216 is a medium (CVSS 5.3) Link Following vulnerability in gnu cpio. EPSS estimates a 0.90% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 58.9% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.

Timeline

1. 05-02-2024
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 25-02-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

A path traversal vulnerability was found in the CPIO utility. This issue could allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to trick a user into opening a specially crafted archive. During the extraction process, the archiver could follow symlinks outside of the intended directory, which allows files to be written in arbitrary directories through symlinks.

• 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.
• 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.