Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-23949 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Jaraco Jaraco.Context. Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 42th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); 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.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-23949 is a Zip Slip path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) in the `jaraco.context.tarball()` function of the open-source Python package jaraco.context, which provides decorators and context managers. The issue affects versions starting from 5.2.0 up to but not including 6.1.0. The `strip_first_component` filter in the function splits paths on the first `/` and strips only the initial component, failing to block `../` sequences, such as in paths like `dummy_dir/../../etc/passwd` that resolve to `../../etc/passwd`. This also enables nested tarball attacks, where multi-level tar files like `dummy_dir/inner.tar.gz` containing traversals such as `dummy_dir/../../config/.env` similarly resolve to `../../config/.env`. The vulnerability is also present in the vendored copy of jaraco.context within setuptools at `_vendor/jaraco/context.py`.
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely with low complexity and no privileges or user interaction required (CVSSv3.1: 8.6/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N). Any untrusted input processed by the `tarball()` function, such as malicious tar archives provided over the network, allows extraction of files outside the intended directory. This leads to high confidentiality impacts across the scope, enabling unauthorized access to sensitive files like `/etc/passwd` or application configurations.
The GitHub security advisory (GHSA-58pv-8j8x-9vj2) and patch commit (7b26a42b525735e4085d2e994e13802ea339d5f9) confirm that version 6.1.0 resolves the issue by addressing the path traversal logic in `jaraco/context/__init__.py`. Users should upgrade to jaraco.context 6.1.0 or later and review vendored instances in dependencies like setuptools for mitigation.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-3592
Vulnerability Data
jaraco.context, an open-source software package that provides some useful decorators and context managers, has a Zip Slip path traversal vulnerability in the `jaraco.context.tarball()` function starting in version 5.2.0 and prior to version 6.1.0. The vulnerability may allow attackers to extract…
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files outside the intended extraction directory when malicious tar archives are processed. The strip_first_component filter splits the path on the first `/` and extracts the second component, while allowing `../` sequences. Paths like `dummy_dir/../../etc/passwd` become `../../etc/passwd`. Note that this suffers from a nested tarball attack as well with multi-level tar files such as `dummy_dir/inner.tar.gz`, where the inner.tar.gz includes a traversal `dummy_dir/../../config/.env` that also gets translated to `../../config/.env`. Version 6.1.0 contains a patch for the issue.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
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.