Absolute Path Traversal in nix - CVE-2026-44029
Published: May 4, 2026 / Updated: September 14, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU129557
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 5.1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-44029
CWE-ID: CWE-36
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to modify files outside the intended extraction directory.
The vulnerability exists due to absolute path traversal in the archive unpacking functionality of nix-prefetch-url --unpack, nix store prefetch-file --unpack, and builtin:unpack-channel when processing archives containing entries with absolute paths. A remote attacker can supply a specially crafted archive to modify files outside the intended extraction directory.
User interaction is required to unpack an untrusted archive. The builtin:unpack-channel builder is sandboxed in sandboxed builds.
Affected software
nix
Fedora
nix
Fedora
nix
How to mitigate CVE-2026-44029
Install security update from vendor's website.
nix - addressed in versions 2.29.0, 2.30.0, 2.31.0, 2.32.0, 2.33.0, 2.33.6, 2.34.7
nix - update to 2.31.5-1.el10_2
nix - update to 2.31.5-1.el10_2