Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-7216

Path Traversal in Redhat Enterprise Linux 7.0 … 9.0

Public PoCPath Traversal
Published
05 February 2024
Modified
25 February 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0090 56th percentile
Risk Priority 44 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-7216 is a medium-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Path Interception (T1034); ranked in the top 44% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A path traversal vulnerability was found in the CPIO utility. This issue could allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to trick a user into opening a specially crafted archive. During the extraction process, the archiver could follow symlinks outside of the…

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intended directory, which allows files to be written in arbitrary directories through symlinks.

CWE(s)
CWE-59CWE-22

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1034 Path Interception Persistence
**This technique has been deprecated.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1547.009 Shortcut Modification Persistence
Adversaries may create or modify shortcuts that can execute a program during system boot or user login.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-7207Same product: Gnu Cpio
CVE-2026-24046Shared CWE-22, CWE-59
CVE-2026-44340Shared CWE-22, CWE-59
CVE-2026-34603Shared CWE-22, CWE-59
CVE-2026-47277Shared CWE-22, CWE-59
CVE-2022-21999Shared CWE-22, CWE-59
CVE-2026-33001Shared CWE-22, CWE-59
CVE-2026-34604Shared CWE-22, CWE-59
CVE-2026-42574Shared CWE-22, CWE-59
CVE-2024-57728Shared CWE-22, CWE-59

Affected Assets

gnu
cpio
all versions
redhat
enterprise linux
7.0, 8.0, 9.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2
  • V15.4.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

Proper enforcement of access authorizations on the resolved target resource stops a link from reaching an unintended object.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least-privilege limits the damage an attacker can cause after following an unintended link.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require code to validate paths and avoid unsafe link following.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect link-following flaws before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices can mandate link-resolution checks and canonicalization before file access.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can explicitly require safe handling of symbolic links and path traversal.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles include input validation and safe file-access design patterns.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly address canonicalization and symlink attacks during implementation.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References