Vulnerability · Published Jan 29, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-24846malcontent's archive extraction could write outside extraction directory
Medium 5.5
In plain English
A medium-severity path traversal in malcontent from chainguard-dev. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 8% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
malcontent discovers supply-chain compromises through. context, differential analysis, and YARA. Starting in version 1.8.0 and prior to version 1.20.3, malcontent could be made to create symlinks outside the intended extraction directory when scanning a specially crafted tar or deb archive. The `handleSymlink` function received arguments in the wrong order, causing the symlink target to be used as the symlink location. Additionally, symlink targets were not validated to ensure they resolved within the extraction directory. Version 1.20.3 introduces fixes that swap handleSymlink arguments, validate symlink location, and validate symlink targets that resolve within an extraction directory.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent | 1.20.3 | GHSA-923j-vrcg-hxwh |
| Go | github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent | 1.20.3 | GO-2026-4391 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| chainguard-dev | malcontent | >= 1.8.0, < 1.20.3 |
Weakness: CWE-22, CWE-683 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
References
- https://github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent/security/advisories/GHSA-923j-vrcg-hxwh x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent/commit/259fca5abc004f3ab238895463ef280a87f30e96 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/chainguard-dev/malcontent/commit/a7dd8a5328ddbaf235568437813efa7591e00017 x_refsource_MISC