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.
Advisories
Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-923j-vrcg-hxwh malcontent vulnerable to symlink Path Traversal via handleSymlink argument confusion in archive extraction
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 07:15:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:30:00 +0900

Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title malcontent's archive extraction could write outside extraction directory
Weaknesses CWE-22
CWE-683
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N'}


Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-01-29T21:37:29.730Z

Reserved: 2026-01-27T14:51:03.059Z

Link: CVE-2026-24846

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-01-29T21:37:04.798Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-01-29T22:15:54.740

Modified: 2026-01-29T22:15:54.740

Link: CVE-2026-24846

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses