Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessUser downloads encrypted 7z archive
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DeliverypyLoad performs password verification
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ExploitPath traversal in archive entry parsing
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ExecutionMalicious paths escape extraction directory
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ImpactArbitrary files deleted from filesystem
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. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Victim must open a crafted 7z archive with encryption on headers disabled but file content encrypted in pyLoad versions before 0.5.0b3.dev97. Remote attacker sends the malicious archive; victim initiates extraction/password verification through pyLoad UI. |
| Impact | The CVSS 3.1 score of 8.1 indicates high severity with an attack vector of Network (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), but requiring user interaction (UI:R), with high impact to both integrity (I:H) and availability (A:H) but no confidentiality impact. The requirement for user interaction significantly constrains real-world exploitation scenarios, as an attacker must convince a target to download and process a malicious 7z archive through pyLoad. While the potential for arbitrary file deletion poses serious risks to system integrity and availability, the lack of current EPSS data, absence from CISA KEV catalog, and no public proof-of-concept suggest this is not being actively exploited in the wild. The attack is automatable once user interaction occurs, but the targeting would likely be opportunistic rather than mass-scale. This represents a genuine risk for organizations using affected pyLoad versions, particularly in environments where users regularly process untrusted archive files, but should be prioritized below vulnerabilities with active exploitation or those requiring no user interaction. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker crafts a malicious 7z archive with encrypted files but non-encrypted headers, embedding path traversal sequences in archive entry names that reference critical system files or application configuration files outside the extraction directory (e.g., '../../../etc/important-config' or absolute paths). The attacker then socially engineers a target user into downloading and processing this archive through their pyLoad installation, perhaps by hosting it on a file-sharing service or sending it via phishing. When pyLoad attempts to verify the password for the encrypted archive, it processes the malicious entry names without proper path validation, resulting in the deletion of arbitrary files on the system, potentially causing application failure, data loss, or system instability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Mar 20, 2026
pyLoad, a free and open-source download manager written in Python, contains a path traversal vulnerability in versions before 0.5.0b3.dev97 that allows arbitrary file deletion outside the extraction directory during password verification of encrypted 7z archives with non-encrypted headers. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely with low complexity, requiring only user interaction, to delete arbitrary files on the system. This is assigned CVE-2026-32808 with a CVSS score of 8.1 (High severity), though no active exploitation (KEV) or public proof-of-concept has been reported at this time.
RemediationAI
Upgrade pyLoad to version 0.5.0b3.dev97 or later, which contains the fix for this path traversal vulnerability as documented in the GitHub Security Advisory at https://github.com/pyload/pyload/security/advisories/GHSA-7g4m-8hx2-4qh3. Organizations should prioritize updating all pyLoad installations, particularly those in environments where users regularly process untrusted or external archive files. As an interim mitigation until patching is completed, administrators should restrict pyLoad's ability to process 7z archives from untrusted sources, implement strict file system permissions to limit the scope of potential file deletions, and consider running pyLoad with minimal privileges in a sandboxed or containerized environment to contain potential damage from path traversal attacks. User awareness training to avoid processing archives from unknown or suspicious sources can also reduce the attack surface given the user interaction requirement.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability affects pyLoad, a Python-based download manager, and stems from CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory, commonly known as Path Traversal). During the password verification phase for 7z archives that have encrypted files but non-encrypted headers, pyLoad extracts archive entry names from 7z listing output and treats these names as filesystem paths without proper validation or sanitization to ensure they remain within the intended extraction directory. This allows specially crafted archive entry names containing path traversal sequences (such as ../ or absolute paths) to reference files outside the extraction boundary, leading to arbitrary file deletion when the verification process attempts to access or clean up temporary files. The affected product is specifically pyload versions 0.4.9-6262-g2fa0b11d3 through all versions prior to 0.5.0b3.dev97, as confirmed by ENISA EUVD-2026-13435.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from GitHub Advisory · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionGitHub Advisory
pyLoad is a free and open-source download manager written in Python. Versions before 0.5.0b3.dev97 are vulnerable to path traversal during password verification of certain encrypted 7z archives (encrypted files with non-encrypted headers), causing arbitrary file deletion outside of the extraction directory. During password verification, pyLoad derives an archive entry name from 7z listing output and treats it as a filesystem path without constraining it to the extraction directory. This issue has been fixed in version 0.5.0b3.dev97.
Executive ViewAI
pyLoad versions before 0.5.0b3.dev97 contain a path traversal vulnerability that allows attackers to delete arbitrary files on systems running the download manager, potentially compromising system integrity and availability. Organizations using pyLoad must upgrade immediately to prevent unauthorized file deletion through specially crafted encrypted 7z archives.
Apply vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible: disable 7z archive extraction functionality in pyLoad, restrict user uploads of password-protected 7z files, implement file integrity monitoring on critical system files, and isolate pyLoad instances to segmented network zones with minimal trust relationships.
Threat Intelligence Overview
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.
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Same weakness CWE-22 – Path Traversal
View allSame technique Path Traversal
View allVendor StatusVendor
Debian
Bug #1001980| Release | Status | Fixed Version | Urgency |
|---|---|---|---|
| open | - | - |
EUVD-2026-13435
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
VulDB
Exploit-DB