CVE-2026-25145: chainguard-dev melange Path Traversal

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-25145 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in chainguard-dev melange. EPSS estimates a 0.19% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 8.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 04-02-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 05-02-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

melange allows users to build apk packages using declarative pipelines. From version 0.14.0 to before 0.40.3, an attacker who can influence a melange configuration file (e.g., through pull request-driven CI or build-as-a-service scenarios) could read arbitrary files from the host system. The LicensingInfos function in pkg/config/config.go reads license files specified in copyright[].license-path without validating that paths remain within the workspace directory, allowing path traversal via ../ sequences. The contents of the traversed file are embedded into the generated SBOM as license text, enabling exfiltration of sensitive data through build artifacts. This issue has been patched in version 0.40.3.

• 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.