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AI Agent Automation EUVDEUVD-2026-82577

| CVE-2026-54520 HIGH
Path Traversal (CWE-22)
2026-09-17 security-advisories@github.com
8.1
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: github
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Authenticate as low-privileged user
  2. Delivery
    Create/modify workflow file step with traversal path
  3. Exploit
    Executor resolves path outside workspace
  4. Execution
    Backend reads or overwrites arbitrary file
  5. Impact
    Sensitive data disclosure or file tampering

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 an authenticated account with permission to create or modify workflow file steps in AI Agent Automation prior to 0.9.1; the attacker supplies traversal segments (e.g. '../') in the step.path field of a file step. Exploitation is limited by: authentication (PR:L, not anonymous), the need for workflow-editing capability, and the backend process's own filesystem permissions (arbitrary write/overwrite only reaches files the Node process can access). No user interaction and no non-default configuration are needed - the vulnerable executeStep path is the default behavior in affected versions.

Impact

The provided CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N, base 8.1) describes a network-reachable, low-complexity flaw requiring only low-privilege authentication and no user interaction, with high confidentiality and integrity impact. The commit diff (f49ec7e8) confirms the root cause precisely: step.path was fed to path.resolve(process.cwd(), ...) with no boundary check, and the fix adds an explicit allowlist (resolveWorkflowFilePath) confining paths under runtime/workflow-files. No EPSS score, CISA KEV listing, or public exploit code is present in the input - this is no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Real-world urgency is tempered by two factors: exploitation requires an authenticated account with permission to create or modify workflow file steps (PR:L), and the affected product is an obscure single-author open-source project with negligible deployment footprint. Despite the high 8.1 score, this reads as a genuine but low-blast-radius issue rather than a mass-exploitation priority. The diff itself is close to a recipe, so weaponization is trivial for anyone motivated, but the small install base limits widespread risk.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An authenticated user who can define a workflow file step sets step.path to a value like '../../../../etc/passwd' (read) or '../../backend/src/config.js' (write). When the executor runs the step, path.resolve escapes runtime/workflow-files and the backend reads or overwrites files with the process's permissions. No public exploit code exists, but the fix commit diff plainly reveals the mechanism.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.4% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 17, 2026

Path traversal in AI Agent Automation prior to 0.9.1 lets an authenticated user who can create or modify workflow file steps read or overwrite files outside the intended workspace by supplying '..' segments in the step.path field of a file step. The flaw sits in the executeStep implementation in backend/src/agents/executor.js, where user-controlled paths were resolved against process.cwd() without a containment check, yielding high confidentiality and integrity impact (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N, base 8.1). Exploitation requires only a low-privilege authenticated account with workflow-editing rights; there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis, and the vendor has released a fix in version 0.9.1.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: upgrade AI Agent Automation to version 0.9.1, which the vendor published at https://github.com/vmDeshpande/ai-agent-automation/releases/tag/v0.9.1 and which corresponds to fixing commit f49ec7e85a6896b14c275222362e6ce4d445b783; the advisory at https://github.com/vmDeshpande/ai-agent-automation/security/advisories/GHSA-cm8g-8jfq-887p should be consulted for the vendor's own guidance. If upgrading immediately is not possible, treat workflow-authoring permission as a privileged capability: restrict who may create or modify workflow file steps to trusted operators, since the flaw is only reachable by an authenticated account with that right, and audit existing workflows for file steps containing '..' segments or absolute paths. Additionally, run the backend process under a dedicated low-privilege service account and, where feasible, inside a container or sandbox with a read-only root filesystem and a bind-mounted writable workspace, which limits the blast radius of both reads and arbitrary writes; the trade-off is that legitimate file steps must be pointed at the mounted workspace path, and overly broad mounts re-expose the same files. There is no configuration flag documented that disables the vulnerable path resolution, so patch application or permission restriction remains the primary remedy.

Affected VersionsENISA

ai-agent-automation < 0.9.1

Affected Packages

euvd ai_agent_automation fix: 0.9.1

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

The vulnerability is a classic CWE-22 path traversal in Node.js file-handling logic. In affected versions, the file action of executeStep took the workflow-author-supplied step.path string, passed it through path.resolve(process.cwd(), resolvedPath), and then handed the result directly to filesystem read or write operations. Because path.resolve normalizes '..' segments and absolute paths, a value such as '../../etc/passwd' or '/etc/app-config' would resolve outside the application's runtime directory entirely, with no validation that the final path stayed within an approved workflow-files directory. The remediation commit f49ec7e85a6896b14c275222362e6ce4d445b783 adds a resolveWorkflowFilePath() helper that rejects non-string/empty inputs, rejects NUL bytes, blocks both POSIX and Windows absolute paths (path.isAbsolute and path.win32.isAbsolute), rebases all relative paths under process.cwd()/runtime/workflow-files, and then re-checks containment via path.relative() to ensure the resolved path does not start with '..' or become absolute. The same commit also normalizes the default output filename so it is no longer anchored by a user-influenced prefix. The underlying technology is the backend agent executor of an AI workflow automation platform that lets non-developer users compose steps including file reads and writes, so a missing authorization boundary on the filesystem is directly reachable through normal product functionality.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (github) PRIMARY 8.1 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
vuln.today AI 8.1 HIGH

Network-facing backend, low complexity, but requires an authenticated workflow-editor (PR:L); read+overwrite give C:H/I:H, and vendor scopes availability out (A:N), which I accept conservatively.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (github).

CVSS VectorVendor: github

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch available
Sep 17, 2026 - 23:04 EUVD
CVE Published
Sep 17, 2026 - 22:17 cve.org
HIGH 8.1

DescriptionCVE.org

AI Agent Automation is a modular AI agent workflow automation platform with schedulers, tools, and observability. Prior to 0.9.1, the executeStep file-step implementation in backend/src/agents/executor.js passes the user-controlled step.path value through path.resolve with process.cwd() and then uses the resulting path for read or write operations without checking that it remains in an approved workflow directory. An authenticated user who can create or modify workflow file steps can supply traversal segments to escape the intended workspace and read sensitive files or write and overwrite files accessible to the backend process, including application-adjacent files when process permissions allow. This issue is fixed in version 0.9.1.

Technical POC Analysis

CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory).

Full technical POC analysis - root cause, step-by-step exploitation and patch breakdown - is part of the Pro and Business plans.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

AI Agent Automation versions prior to 0.9.1 contain a path traversal flaw that enables an authenticated user with workflow-editing rights to read or overwrite files outside the intended workspace, compromising both data confidentiality and system integrity. This affects any team using the product for automated workflows, and leadership should prioritize remediation to prevent unauthorized data exposure or tampering. The vendor has released a fix in version 0.9.1, making immediate upgrade the most effective mitigation.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.4%
Top 66% exploitable
Prevalence
Rare
obscure single-author OSS AI-agent project, no enterprise footprint
Social Media
9
Sightings
Data Quality
6 sources
Confidence: High

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.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.4%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact
High
Technical Impact
Total

Priority Score

40
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +40
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Path traversal exploits occur when applications use user-controlled input to construct file system paths without proper validation.

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