CVE-2023-52138
Path traversal via crafted cpio archives in Engrampa archivers
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
8.2
Path traversal via crafted cpio archives in Engrampa archivers
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.
- Record
CVE-2023-52138- CVSS 3.1
- 8.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-25
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-56811
8.2
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.
- Record
EUVD-2023-56811- CVSS 3.1
- 8.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
8.2
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.
- Record
CVE-2023-52138- CVSS 3.1
- 8.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 9.6 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-25, CWE-22, CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
8.2
Path traversal via crafted cpio archives in Engrampa archivers
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.
- Record
CVE-2023-52138- CVSS 3.1
- 8.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-25
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2023-52138
9.6
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52138- CVSS 3.1
- 9.6 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVOESA-2024-1588
9.6
engrampa security update
Mate File Archiver is an application for creating and viewing archives files, such as zip, xv, bzip2, cab, rar and other compress formats.
Security Fix(es):
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa. (CVE-2023-52138)
- Record
OESA-2024-1588- CVSS 3.1
- 9.6 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Show 5 moreShow less
OSVOESA-2024-1589
9.6
engrampa security update
Mate File Archiver is an application for creating and viewing archives files, such as zip, xv, bzip2, cab, rar and other compress formats.
Security Fix(es):
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa. (CVE-2023-52138)
- Record
OESA-2024-1589- CVSS 3.1
- 9.6 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVOESA-2026-3764
9.6
engrampa security update
Mate File Archiver is an application for creating and viewing archives files, such as zip, xv, bzip2, cab, rar and other compress formats.
Security Fix(es):
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.(CVE-2023-52138)
- Record
OESA-2026-3764- CVSS 3.1
- 9.6 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2023-52138
8.2
Engrampa is an archive manager for the MATE environment. Engrampa is found to be vulnerable to a Path Traversal vulnerability that can be leveraged to achieve full Remote Command Execution (RCE) on the target. While handling CPIO archives, the Engrampa Archive manager follows symlink, cpio by default will follow stored symlinks while extracting and the Archiver will not check the symlink location, which leads to arbitrary file writes to unintended locations. When the victim extracts the archive, the attacker can craft a malicious cpio or ISO archive to achieve RCE on the target system. This vulnerability was fixed in commit 63d5dfa.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52138- CVSS 3.1
- 8.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 9.6 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:13747-1 No score
caja-engrampa-1.26.1-2.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the caja-engrampa-1.26.1-2.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:13747-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUSN-8640-1 No score
engrampa vulnerability
It was discovered that Engrampa incorrectly handled symbolic links when extracting certain archives. An attacker could possibly use this issue to write arbitrary files and execute arbitrary code.
- Record
USN-8640-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
engrampaDebian:12 |
before 1.26.0-1+deb12u2, plus listed versions 1.26.0-11.26.0-1+deb12u1 |
1.26.0-1+deb12u2 |
engrampaDebian:13 |
before 1.26.2-1 | 1.26.2-1 |
engrampaDebian:14 |
before 1.26.2-1 | 1.26.2-1 |
engrampaDebian:10 |
before 1.20.2-1+deb10u1, plus listed versions 1.20.2-1 |
1.20.2-1+deb10u1 |
engrampaDebian:11 |
before 1.24.1-1+deb11u1, plus listed versions 1.24.1-1 |
1.24.1-1+deb11u1 |
engrampaopenEuler:22.03-LTS-SP2 |
before 1.24.1-4.oe2203sp2 | 1.24.1-4.oe2203sp2 |
engrampaopenEuler:22.03-LTS-SP3 |
before 1.24.1-4.oe2203sp3 | 1.24.1-4.oe2203sp3 |
engrampaopenEuler:20.03-LTS-SP4 |
before 1.24.1-3.oe2003sp4 | 1.24.1-3.oe2003sp4 |
engrampaUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS |
before 1.12.0-2ubuntu0.1+esm1, plus listed versions 1.10.2-11.12.0-11.12.0-21.12.0-2ubuntu0.1 |
1.12.0-2ubuntu0.1+esm1 |
engrampaUbuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS |
before 1.20.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions 1.18.2-2ubuntu01.18.3-11.19.2-0ubuntu11.20.0-0ubuntu11.20.0-1 |
1.20.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
engrampaUbuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS |
before 1.24.0-2ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions 1.22.1-21.22.3-11.24.0-0ubuntu11.24.0-11.24.0-2 |
1.24.0-2ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
engrampaUbuntu:Pro:22.04:LTS |
before 1.26.0-1ubuntu1+esm1, plus listed versions 1.26.0-0ubuntu11.26.0-1ubuntu1 |
1.26.0-1ubuntu1+esm1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-52138 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.2) in Mate-desktop Engrampa, published February 5, 2024. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.67%, the 76th percentile. Fixed in engrampa 1.26.0-1+deb12u2.
References
github.com/mate-desktop/engrampa/security/advisories/GHSA-c98h-v39w-3r7v
github.com/mate-desktop/engrampa/commit/63d5dfa9005c6b16d0f0ccd888cc859fca78f970
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/4IOJ3QWXTZGCXFEHP72ELY22PZ4AX2CB
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/02/msg00011.html
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/52xxx/CVE-2023-52138.json
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-52138
Show 8 moreShow less
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-52138
openeuler.org/en/security/safety-bulletin/detail.html?id=openEuler-SA-2024-1588
openeuler.org/en/security/safety-bulletin/detail.html?id=openEuler-SA-2024-1589
openeuler.org/zh/security/security-bulletins/detail?id=openEuler-SA-2026-3764
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-52138
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-52138
ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8640-1
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-52138