Magic Wormhole: receive, with --output pointing at an existing directory can be path-traversed

Description

Impact

A receiver who specifies "--output <dir>" where that output directory currently exists (as a directory).

Patches

0.24.0 will contain the patch

Workarounds

Ensure local target directories specified by "--output" do not already exist

Resources

Private email and Signal communications from a user.
Magic Wormhole thanks @marduc812

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
low
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-05-06 20:40:17 UTC
Updated
2026-06-08 23:28:05 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-05-06 20:40:17 UTC
NVD published
2026-05-26

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.04% 11.23%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
3.5 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
pip magic-wormhole = 0.23.0 0.24.0

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence