Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessCraft malicious ZIP archive with path traversal sequences
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DeliveryUpload skill file to prompts.chat
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ExploitServer extracts archive without filename validation
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ExecutionFiles written outside intended directory
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PersistShell initialization files overwritten
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ImpactCode execution achieved
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 | Requires prompts.chat prior to commit 0f8d4c3. Attacker creates malicious ZIP archive with path traversal sequences (../) in skill filenames. Victim must download and extract the archive. Remote unauthenticated attacker; victim interaction required. |
| Impact | Real-world risk is substantial despite requiring user interaction. The CVSS 8.6 score reflects high confidentiality and integrity impact (VC:H, VI:H) with network accessibility and no authentication barriers-attackers need only induce users to import malicious skill files. The UI:P requirement (user must trigger import/extraction) provides minimal protection as users routinely import skill files as core platform functionality. Attack complexity is low (AC:L) since ZIP path traversal exploitation requires no cryptographic breaks or race conditions, just crafted filenames. The technical impact enables arbitrary file writes culminating in code execution through shell initialization file overwrites, satisfying critical impact thresholds. Without EPSS data or SSVC exploitation status, we cannot quantify likelihood, but the combination of network reachability, pre-authentication attack surface, and code execution potential warrants high prioritization. No CISA KEV listing indicates no confirmed active exploitation campaigns. The availability of proof-of-concept details in the VulnCheck advisory and referenced GitHub PR increases exploitation probability. Organizations using prompts.chat for collaborative prompt engineering face immediate risk if users import skill files from untrusted sources. The automatable potential is moderate-while payload crafting is trivial, successful exploitation requires social engineering to distribute malicious archives. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker creates a malicious skill file packaged as a ZIP archive containing a crafted filename like '../../../../home/victim/.bashrc' pointing to a payload script that establishes reverse shell connections. The attacker distributes this archive through social engineering (phishing, forum posts, or compromised repositories) targeting prompts.chat users seeking new AI prompt templates. When the victim imports the skill file through the prompts.chat interface, the vulnerable extraction routine processes the archive without sanitizing the path traversal sequence, writing the malicious payload to the user's bash initialization file instead of the intended skill directory. Upon the victim's next terminal session, the overwritten .bashrc executes automatically, granting the attacker code execution with the victim's privileges and establishing persistent access. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Apr 03, 2026
Path traversal in prompts.chat skill file extraction allows unauthenticated remote attackers to write arbitrary files and execute code on client systems through malicious ZIP archives. The vulnerability (CVSS 8.6) stems from missing server-side filename validation enabling ../ sequences in archive filenames that overwrite shell initialization files during extraction. VulnCheck identified this issue; vendor-released patch available in commit 0f8d4c3. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, though EPSS data not available for risk quantification.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: commit 0f8d4c381abd7b2d7478c9fdee9522149c2d65e5 resolves the path traversal vulnerability by implementing filename sanitization in the skill file extraction process. Organizations should immediately update prompts.chat deployments to this commit or later versions from the official GitHub repository (https://github.com/f/prompts.chat/commit/0f8d4c381abd7b2d7478c9fdee9522149c2d65e5). Review pull request 1101 for implementation details and validation testing procedures. As an interim workaround pending patch deployment, restrict skill file imports to trusted sources only and implement application-layer controls to inspect ZIP archive contents before extraction, rejecting files containing ../ sequences or absolute paths. Consider deploying file extraction processes in sandboxed environments with restricted write permissions to limit arbitrary file write impact. Review system logs and shell initialization files (bashrc, profile, zshrc) for unauthorized modifications that may indicate prior exploitation.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affects your stack
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability affects prompts.chat (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:f:prompts.chat), a platform for managing AI prompt templates through 'skill files' distributed as ZIP archives. The root cause is CWE-22 (Path Traversal) in the file extraction mechanism. When processing skill file archives, the application fails to sanitize or validate filenames embedded within ZIP containers before extraction. ZIP file specifications allow arbitrary strings as internal filenames, including parent directory references (../) that navigate outside intended extraction directories. Without canonicalization or path boundary enforcement, extraction routines honor these sequences, enabling writes to arbitrary filesystem locations accessible to the extraction process. The CVSS v4.0 vector confirms network attack vector (AV:N), low complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), but user interaction needed (UI:P), resulting in high confidentiality and integrity impact on the vulnerable system. The attack targets the client-side extraction phase rather than server infrastructure, making this a supply-chain style attack where malicious content is served through the legitimate platform.
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck) · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
prompts.chat prior to commit 0f8d4c3 contains a path traversal vulnerability in skill file handling that allows attackers to write arbitrary files to the client system by crafting malicious ZIP archives with unsanitized filenames containing path traversal sequences. Attackers can exploit missing server-side filename validation to inject path traversal sequences ../ into skill file archives, which when extracted by vulnerable tools write files outside the intended directory and overwrite shell initialization files to achieve code execution.
Executive ViewAI
CVE-2026-22661 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in prompts.chat skill file extraction that enables unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code on client systems by uploading malicious ZIP archives. This poses immediate risk to any organization deploying prompts.chat, as the vulnerability requires no user authentication and can result in full system compromise through overwritten shell initialization files.
Apply vendor patch. Interim mitigations pending patch deployment: (1) Restrict or disable ZIP file upload and skill extraction features; (2) Implement network-level file upload validation rejecting archives containing ../ or absolute path sequences; (3) Run prompts.chat in isolated user context with minimal system permissions; (4) Monitor shell initialization files (.bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, .profile) for unauthorized modifications.
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.
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
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EPSS
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