Apache PDFBox Examples: Path Traversal in PDFBox ExtractEmbeddedFiles Example Code

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API Print: PDF PDF

Summary

CVECVE-2026-33929
StatePUBLISHED
Assignerapache
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-04-14 09:16:36 UTC
Updated2026-04-14 20:16:47 UTC
DescriptionImproper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in Apache PDFBox Examples. This issue affects the ExtractEmbeddedFiles example in Apache PDFBox: from 2.0.24 through 2.0.36, from 3.0.0 through 3.0.7. Users are recommended to update to version 2.0.37 or 3.0.8 once available. Until then, they should apply the fix provided in GitHub PR 427. The ExtractEmbeddedFiles example contained a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) mentioned in CVE-2026-23907. However the change in the releases 2.0.36 and 3.0.7 is flawed because it doesn't consider the file path separator. Because of that, a user having writing rights on /home/ABC could be victim to a malicious PDF resulting in a write attempt to any path starting with /home/ABC, e.g. "/home/ABCDEF". Users who have copied this example into their production code should apply the mentioned change. The example has been changed accordingly and is available in the project repository.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 4.3 MEDIUM from ADP

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Problem Types: CWE-22 | CWE-22 CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1ADPDECLARED4.3MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
3.1134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0Secondary4.3MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Apache Software Foundation Apache PDFBox Examples affected 2.0.24 2.0.36 semver Not specified
CNA Apache Software Foundation Apache PDFBox Examples affected 3.0.0 3.0.7 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/apache/pdfbox/pull/427/changes [email protected] github.com
lists.apache.org/thread/op3lyx1ngzy4qycn06l6hljyf28ff0zs [email protected] lists.apache.org
lists.apache.org/thread/j8l07tgzy9dm8d8n0f3c45h7zg7t3ld6 [email protected] lists.apache.org
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Vendor Comments And Credit

Discovery Credit

CNA: Kaixuan Li (en)

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