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CVE-2023-22726

Unrestricted file upload leading to privilege escalation in act

8.0 HighFix available

act is a project which allows for local running of github actions. The artifact server that stores artifacts from Github Action runs does not sanitize path inputs. This allows an attacker to download and overwrite arbitrary files on the host from a Github Action. This issue may lead to privilege escalation. The /upload endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as filepath is user controlled, and ultimately flows into os.Mkdir and os.Open. The /artifact endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as the path is variable is user controlled, and the specified file is ultimately returned by the server. This has been addressed in version 0.2.40. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may, during implementation of Open and OpenAtEnd for FS, ensure to use ValidPath() to check against path traversal or clean the user-provided paths manually.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
Low
User interaction
Required

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

1.29%Up 0.3 points since Jan 21, 2023
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 8.0

Unrestricted file upload leading to privilege escalation in act

act is a project which allows for local running of github actions. The artifact server that stores artifacts from Github Action runs does not sanitize path inputs. This allows an attacker to download and overwrite arbitrary files on the host from a Github Action. This issue may lead to privilege escalation. The /upload endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as filepath is user controlled, and ultimately flows into os.Mkdir and os.Open. The /artifact endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as the path is variable is user controlled, and the specified file is ultimately returned by the server. This has been addressed in version 0.2.40. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may, during implementation of Open and OpenAtEnd for FS, ensure to use ValidPath() to check against path traversal or clean the user-provided paths manually.

Record
CVE-2023-22726
CVSS 3.1
8.0 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-434
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-0514 8.0

act is a project which allows for local running of github actions. The artifact server that stores artifacts from Github Action runs does not sanitize path inputs. This allows an attacker to download and overwrite arbitrary files on the host from a Github Action. This issue may lead to privilege escalation. The /upload endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as filepath is user controlled, and ultimately flows into os.Mkdir and os.Open. The /artifact endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as the path is variable is user controlled, and the specified file is ultimately returned by the server. This has been addressed in version 0.2.40. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may, during implementation of Open and OpenAtEnd for FS, ensure to use ValidPath() to check against path traversal or clean the user-provided paths manually.

Record
EUVD-2023-0514
CVSS 3.1
8.0 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-pc99-qmg4-rcff 8.8

act vulnerable to arbitrary file upload in artifact server

Impact

The artifact server that stores artifacts from Github Action runs does not sanitize path inputs. This allows an attacker to download and overwrite arbitrary files on the host from a Github Action. This issue may lead to privilege escalation.

Issue 1: Arbitrary file upload in artifact server (GHSL-2023-004)

The /upload endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as filepath is user controlled, and ultimately flows into os.Mkdir and os.Open.

router.PUT("/upload/:runId", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, params httprouter.Params) {
		itemPath := req.URL.Query().Get("itemPath")
		runID := params.ByName("runId")

		if req.Header.Get("Content-Encoding") == "gzip" {
			itemPath += gzipExtension
		}

		filePath := fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", runID, itemPath)

Issue 2: Arbitrary file download in artifact server (GHSL-2023-004)

The /artifact endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as the path is variable is user controlled, and the specified file is ultimately returned by the server.

router.GET("/artifact/*path", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, params httprouter.Params) {
		path := params.ByName("path")[1:]

		file, err := fsys.Open(path)

Proof of Concept

Below I have written a Github Action that will upload secret.txt into the folder above the specified artifact directory. The first call to curl will create the directory named 1 if it does not already exist, and the second call to curl will upload the secret.txt file to the directory above the specified artifact directory.

When testing this POC, the --artifact-server-path parameter must be passed to act in order to enable the artifact server. Replace yourIPandPort with the IP and port of the server. An attacker can enumerate /proc/net/tcp in order to find the artifact server IP and port, but this is out of the scope of this report. Please let me know if you would like a copy of this script.

name: CI
on: push

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - run: echo "Here are some secrets" > secret.txt
    - run: curl http://<yourIPandPort>/upload/1?itemPath=secret.txt --upload-file secret.txt
    - run: curl http://<yourIPandPort>/upload/1?itemPath=../../secret.txt --upload-file secret.txt

Remediation

  1. During implementation of Open and OpenAtEnd for FS, please ensure to use ValidPath() to check against path traversal. See more here: https://pkg.go.dev/io/fs#FS
  2. Clean the user-provided paths manually

Patches

Version 0.2.40 contains a patch.

Workarounds

Avoid use of artifact server with --artifact-server-path

Record
GHSA-pc99-qmg4-rcff
CVSS 3.1
8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-22, CWE-434
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 8.0

act is a project which allows for local running of github actions. The artifact server that stores artifacts from Github Action runs does not sanitize path inputs. This allows an attacker to download and overwrite arbitrary files on the host from a Github Action. This issue may lead to privilege escalation. The /upload endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as filepath is user controlled, and ultimately flows into os.Mkdir and os.Open. The /artifact endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as the path is variable is user controlled, and the specified file is ultimately returned by the server. This has been addressed in version 0.2.40. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may, during implementation of Open and OpenAtEnd for FS, ensure to use ValidPath() to check against path traversal or clean the user-provided paths manually.

Record
CVE-2023-22726
CVSS 3.1
8.0 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 3.1
8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-434, CWE-22
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 8.0

Unrestricted file upload leading to privilege escalation in act

act is a project which allows for local running of github actions. The artifact server that stores artifacts from Github Action runs does not sanitize path inputs. This allows an attacker to download and overwrite arbitrary files on the host from a Github Action. This issue may lead to privilege escalation. The /upload endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as filepath is user controlled, and ultimately flows into os.Mkdir and os.Open. The /artifact endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as the path is variable is user controlled, and the specified file is ultimately returned by the server. This has been addressed in version 0.2.40. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may, during implementation of Open and OpenAtEnd for FS, ensure to use ValidPath() to check against path traversal or clean the user-provided paths manually.

Record
CVE-2023-22726
CVSS 3.1
8.0 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-434
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-pc99-qmg4-rcff 8.8

act vulnerable to arbitrary file upload in artifact server

Impact

The artifact server that stores artifacts from Github Action runs does not sanitize path inputs. This allows an attacker to download and overwrite arbitrary files on the host from a Github Action. This issue may lead to privilege escalation.

Issue 1: Arbitrary file upload in artifact server (GHSL-2023-004)

The /upload endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as filepath is user controlled, and ultimately flows into os.Mkdir and os.Open.

router.PUT("/upload/:runId", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, params httprouter.Params) {
		itemPath := req.URL.Query().Get("itemPath")
		runID := params.ByName("runId")

		if req.Header.Get("Content-Encoding") == "gzip" {
			itemPath += gzipExtension
		}

		filePath := fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", runID, itemPath)

Issue 2: Arbitrary file download in artifact server (GHSL-2023-004)

The /artifact endpoint is vulnerable to path traversal as the path is variable is user controlled, and the specified file is ultimately returned by the server.

router.GET("/artifact/*path", func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, params httprouter.Params) {
		path := params.ByName("path")[1:]

		file, err := fsys.Open(path)

Proof of Concept

Below I have written a Github Action that will upload secret.txt into the folder above the specified artifact directory. The first call to curl will create the directory named 1 if it does not already exist, and the second call to curl will upload the secret.txt file to the directory above the specified artifact directory.

When testing this POC, the --artifact-server-path parameter must be passed to act in order to enable the artifact server. Replace yourIPandPort with the IP and port of the server. An attacker can enumerate /proc/net/tcp in order to find the artifact server IP and port, but this is out of the scope of this report. Please let me know if you would like a copy of this script.

name: CI
on: push

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - run: echo "Here are some secrets" > secret.txt
    - run: curl http://<yourIPandPort>/upload/1?itemPath=secret.txt --upload-file secret.txt
    - run: curl http://<yourIPandPort>/upload/1?itemPath=../../secret.txt --upload-file secret.txt

Remediation

  1. During implementation of Open and OpenAtEnd for FS, please ensure to use ValidPath() to check against path traversal. See more here: https://pkg.go.dev/io/fs#FS
  2. Clean the user-provided paths manually

Patches

Version 0.2.40 contains a patch.

Workarounds

Avoid use of artifact server with --artifact-server-path

Record
GHSA-pc99-qmg4-rcff
CVSS 3.1
8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-22, CWE-434
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1504 No score

act vulnerable to arbitrary file upload in artifact server in github.com/nektos/act

act vulnerable to arbitrary file upload in artifact server in github.com/nektos/act

Record
GO-2023-1504
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
github.com/nektos/act
Go
through 0.2.39
0.2.40
github.com/nektos/act
Go
before 0.2.40
0.2.40

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2023-22726 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.0) in Act Project Act, published January 20, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.29%, the 70th percentile. Fixed in github.com/nektos/act 0.2.40.

References

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