CVE-2023-37460 | Plexus Archiver vulnerable to Arbitrary File Creation in AbstractUnArchiver

Exp

Plexis Archiver is a collection of Plexus components to create archives or extract archives to a directory with a unified `Archiver`/`UnArchiver` API. Prior to version 4.8.0, using AbstractUnArchiver for extracting an archive might lead to an arbitrary file creation and possibly remote code execution. When extracting an archive with an entry that already exists in the destination directory as a symbolic link whose target does not exist - the `resolveFile()` function will return the symlink's source instead of its target, which will pass the verification that ensures the file will not be extracted outside of the destination directory. Later `Files.newOutputStream()`, that follows symlinks by default, will actually write the entry's content to the symlink's target. Whoever uses plexus archiver to extract an untrusted archive is vulnerable to an arbitrary file creation and possibly remote code execution. Version 4.8.0 contains a patch for this issue.

Published: 2023-07-25 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-37460 is rated High Exploit Risk (82.8/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 37.91%, 97th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.35% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-37460

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-37460

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-21 36.56% 37.91% +1.35%
2 2026-03-05 40.69% 36.56% -4.13%
3 2026-02-15 — 40.69% —

Full EPSS history (27 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-37460

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.2 5.9 [email protected]
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-37460

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-37460

GHSA-wh3p-fphp-9h2m · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Arbitrary File Creation in AbstractUnArchiver

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-37460

vendor priority summary link
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-37460
suse high CVE-2023-37460 severity important: SUSE including 61 source package names (10.1.33-openjdk11-59.4:objectweb-asm-9.6-150200.3.11.3, 10.1.33-openjdk17-59.4:objectweb-asm-9.6-150200.3.11.3, …), 252 product×package rows across 45 product lines (Container bci/openjdk-devel, Container containers/apache-pulsar, … (45 product lines)): Fixed 252. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-37460/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-37460 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (plexus-archiver), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 8, ignored 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-37460

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-37460

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
codehaus-plexus plexus-archiver < 4.8.0 cpe:2.3:a:codehaus-plexus:plexus-archiver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-37460

cvelogic Threat Intelligence