Plexus Archiver
CVE-2023-37460
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V5 - File Handling Path canonicalization, traversal prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Discovery, Collection The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could access files and directories outside the intended path by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Plexis Archiver is a collection of Plexus components to create archives or extract archives to a directory with a unified Archiver/UnArchiver API. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. Public exploit code available.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Validate and canonicalize file paths. Use chroot or sandboxing. Reject input containing path separators or '../' sequences.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in maven
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22), which allows attackers to access files and directories outside the intended path. Plexis Archiver is a collection of Plexus components to create archives or extract archives to a directory with a unified Archiver/UnArchiver API. Prior to version 4.8.0, using AbstractUnArchiver for extracting an archive might lead to an arbitrary file creation and possibly remote code execution. When extracting an archive with an entry that already exists in the destination directory as a symbolic link whose target does not exist - the resolveFile() function will return the symlink's source instead of its target, which will pass the verification that ensures the file will not be extracted outside of the destination directory. Later Files.newOutputStream(), that follows symlinks by default, will actually write the entry's content to the symlink's target. Whoever uses plexus archiver to extract an untrusted archive is vulnerable to an arbitrary file creation and possibly remote code execution. Version 4.8.0 contains a patch for this issue. Affected products include: Codehaus-Plexus Plexus-Archiver. Version information: version 4.8.0.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
Plexis Archiver is a collection of Plexus components to create archives or extract archives to a directory with a unified Archiver/UnArchiver API. Prior to version 4.8.0, using AbstractUnArchiver for extracting an archive might lead to an arbitrary file creation and possibly remote code execution. When extracting an archive with an entry that already exists in the destination directory as a symbolic link whose target does not exist - the resolveFile() function will return the symlink's source instead of its target, which will pass the verification that ensures the file will not be extracted outside of the destination directory. Later Files.newOutputStream(), that follows symlinks by default, will actually write the entry's content to the symlink's target. Whoever uses plexus archiver to extract an untrusted archive is vulnerable to an arbitrary file creation and possibly remote code execution. Version 4.8.0 contains a patch for this issue.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Path traversal exploits occur when applications use user-controlled input to construct file system paths without proper validation.
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
Exploit-DB