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

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.

Published: 2026-06-23 Last update: 2026-06-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-11940 is rated Moderate Risk (46.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.60%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-11940

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 2026-06-24 0.60%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-11940

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 4.0 HIGH
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/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:N)
No confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:N)
No integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:N)
No availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:H)
High confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:H)
High integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X)
Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:X)
Not evaluated.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:X)
Not evaluated.
Value density (supplemental) (V:X)
Not evaluated.
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X)
Not evaluated.
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:X)
Not evaluated.
[email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-11940

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-11940

GHSA-9mc4-rqmq-h467 · Severity: high — tarfile.extractall() with the 'data' or 'tar' filter could be bypassed by a crafted archive...

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-11940

vendor priority summary link
debian end-of-life CVE-2026-11940 end-of-life priority: Debian including 6 source packages (pypy3, python2.7, python3.11, python3.13, python3.14, python3.9), 13 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 13. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-11940
suse critical CVE-2026-11940 severity critical: SUSE including 7 source package names (python, python-32bit, …), 29 product×package rows across 8 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP7, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS, … (8 product lines)): Known Not Affected 29. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-11940/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-11940 medium priority: Ubuntu including 13 source packages (pypy3, python2.7, …), 78 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 41, needs-triage 37. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-11940

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-11940

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2026-11940

cvelogic Threat Intelligence