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GHSA-5rjg-fvgr-3xxf

GitHub Security Advisory

setuptools has a path traversal vulnerability in PackageIndex.download that leads to Arbitrary File Write

✓ GitHub Reviewed HIGH Has CVE

Advisory Details

### Summary
A path traversal vulnerability in `PackageIndex` was fixed in setuptools version 78.1.1

### Details
```
def _download_url(self, url, tmpdir):
# Determine download filename
#
name, _fragment = egg_info_for_url(url)
if name:
while '..' in name:
name = name.replace('..', '.').replace('\\', '_')
else:
name = "__downloaded__" # default if URL has no path contents

if name.endswith('.[egg.zip](http://egg.zip/)'):
name = name[:-4] # strip the extra .zip before download

--> filename = os.path.join(tmpdir, name)
```

Here: https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/blob/6ead555c5fb29bc57fe6105b1bffc163f56fd558/setuptools/package_index.py#L810C1-L825C88

`os.path.join()` discards the first argument `tmpdir` if the second begins with a slash or drive letter.
`name` is derived from a URL without sufficient sanitization. While there is some attempt to sanitize by replacing instances of '..' with '.', it is insufficient.

### Risk Assessment
As easy_install and package_index are deprecated, the exploitation surface is reduced.
However, it seems this could be exploited in a similar fashion like https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-r9hx-vwmv-q579, and as described by POC 4 in https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-cx63-2mw6-8hw5 report: via malicious URLs present on the pages of a package index.

### Impact
An attacker would be allowed to write files to arbitrary locations on the filesystem with the permissions of the process running the Python code, which could escalate to RCE depending on the context.

### References
https://huntr.com/bounties/d6362117-ad57-4e83-951f-b8141c6e7ca5
https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/4946

Affected Packages

PyPI setuptools
Affected versions: 0 (fixed in 78.1.1)

Related CVEs

Key Information

GHSA ID
GHSA-5rjg-fvgr-3xxf
Published
May 19, 2025 4:52 PM
Last Modified
June 13, 2025 4:13 AM
CVSS Score
7.5 /10
Primary Ecosystem
PyPI
Primary Package
setuptools
GitHub Reviewed
✓ Yes

Dataset

Last updated: September 9, 2025 6:37 AM

Data from GitHub Advisory Database. This information is provided for research and educational purposes.