Jenkins has a link following vulnerability allows arbitrary file creation

CVE-2026-33001 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

Jenkins 2.554 and earlier, LTS 2.541.2 and earlier does not safely handle symbolic links during the extraction of .tar and .tar.gz archives, allowing crafted archives to write files to arbitrary locations on the filesystem, restricted only by file system access permissions of the user running Jenkins.
This can be exploited to deploy malicious scripts or plugins on the controller by attackers with Item/Configure permission, or able to control agent processes.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
—
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-03-18 18:31:16 UTC
Updated
2026-03-19 23:22:21 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-03-19 12:46:21 UTC
NVD published
2026-03-18

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.12% 31.44%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
8.8 3.1 —
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-r6qv-frpc-q66c ↗
CVE CVE-2026-33001 ↗

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
CWE-61 UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following

Credits

  • bboe (analyst)

Affected packages (1)

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

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
maven org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core <= 2.554 2.555 —

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence