Vulnerability · Published Jun 30, 2023 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2023-35947Path traversal vulnerabilities in handling of Tar archives in Gradle

Medium 6.9

In plain English

A medium-severity path traversal in gradle from gradle. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.5% (higher than 45% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)6.9Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.5%top 55.1% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation and support for multi-language development. In affected versions when unpacking Tar archives, Gradle did not check that files could be written outside of the unpack location. This could lead to important files being overwritten anywhere the Gradle process has write permissions. For a build reading Tar entries from a Tar archive, this issue could allow Gradle to disclose information from sensitive files through an arbitrary file read. To exploit this behavior, an attacker needs to either control the source of an archive already used by the build or modify the build to interact with a malicious archive. It is unlikely that this would go unnoticed. A fix has been released in Gradle 7.6.2 and 8.2 to protect against this vulnerability. Starting from these versions, Gradle will refuse to handle Tar archives which contain path traversal elements in a Tar entry name. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. ### Impact This is a path traversal vulnerability when Gradle deals with Tar archives, often referenced as TarSlip, a variant of ZipSlip. * When unpacking Tar archives, Gradle did not check that files could be written outside of the unpack location. This could lead to important files being overwritten anywhere the Gradle process has write permissions. * For a build reading Tar entries from a Tar archive, this issue could allow Gradle to disclose information from sensitive files through an arbitrary file read. To exploit this behavior, an attacker needs to either control the source of an archive already used by the build or modify the build to interact with a malicious archive. It is unlikely that this would go unnoticed. Gradle uses Tar archives for its [Build Cache](https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/build_cache.html). These archives are safe when created by Gradle. But if an attacker had control of a remote build cache server, they could inject malicious build cache entries that leverage this vulnerability. This attack vector could also be exploited if a man-in-the-middle can be performed between the remote cache and the build. ### Patches A fix has been released in Gradle 7.6.2 and 8.2 to protect against this vulnerability. Starting from these versions, Gradle will refuse to handle Tar archives which contain path traversal elements in a Tar entry name. It is recommended that users upgrade to a patched version. ### Workarounds There is no workaround. * If your build deals with Tar archives that you do not fully trust, you need to inspect them to confirm they do not attempt to leverage this vulnerability. * If you use the Gradle remote build cache, make sure only trusted parties have write access to it and that connections to the remote cache are properly secured. ### References * [CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/22.html) * [Gradle Build Cache](https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/build_cache.html) * [ZipSlip](https://security.snyk.io/research/zip-slip-vulnerability)

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12gradleno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-35947
Debian:13gradleno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-35947
Debian:14gradleno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2023-35947
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSgradleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-35947
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSgradleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-35947
Ubuntu:25.10gradleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-35947
Ubuntu:26.04:LTSgradleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-35947
Ubuntu:26.10gradleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2023-35947

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
gradle gradle < 7.6.1>= 8.0, < 8.2

Weakness: CWE-22 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L

References