CVE-2025-6218
Path Traversal in Rarlab Winrar ≤ 7.12
Raw vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-6218 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Rarlab Winrar. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities 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.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
RARLAB WinRAR contains a directory traversal vulnerability that permits remote code execution. The flaw resides in the handling of file paths inside archive files, where a crafted path can cause the application to write files to unintended directories. Affected installations allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user when the malicious archive is processed.
Exploitation requires user interaction, such as opening a malicious archive file or visiting a page that delivers one. An attacker can leverage the traversal to place executable content in a location that leads to code execution under the privileges of the logged-in user. The vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.0 score of 7.8 and is tracked as ZDI-CAN-27198 and CWE-22.
Vendor and third-party advisories, including the official RARLAB release and the Zero Day Initiative bulletin ZDI-25-409, direct users to apply the latest WinRAR update that corrects path handling. CISA has added the CVE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, confirming active exploitation in the wild.
Public reporting links the issue to APT-C-08 activity, with detailed analyses describing targeted archive-based attacks. The EPSS score reached a peak of 0.0832 after starting from a lower value, indicating rising exploitation interest following disclosure.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-28706
Vulnerability Data
RARLAB WinRAR Directory Traversal Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of RARLAB WinRAR. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page…
more
or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the handling of file paths within archive files. A crafted file path can cause the process to traverse to unintended directories. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current user. Was ZDI-CAN-27198.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 09 December 2025
Related Threats
Threat-Actor AttributionAI
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
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Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.
Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.
Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.
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.
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 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.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.