CVE-2026-11940 HIGH

CVE-2026-11940: tarfile extraction filter bypass allows escaping the destination directory

Vendor Python Software Foundation
Product CPython
Weakness CWE-22 · Path traversal
Published June 23, 2026
Last update June 30, 2026

CVSS base score

7.8/10
Attack vector Network
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required None
User interaction None
Confidentiality
Integrity

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N

What the vulnerability does

01Description

tarfile.extractall() with the 'data' or 'tar' filter could be bypassed by a crafted archive where a hardlink references a symlink stored at a deeper name than the hardlink itself.  The extraction fallback validated the symlink at it's archived location but recreated it at the hardlink's shallower path, letting a relative target the filter judged contained escape the destination directory.  This allowed a malicious tar archive to create a symlink pointing outside the destination, enabling out-of-destination file reads or writes. This was an incomplete fix of CVE-2025-4330.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

June 23, 2026 CVE published
June 30, 2026 Record updated