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CVE-2026-43616 is a path traversal vulnerability in Detect-It-Easy (DIE) prior to version 3.21, specifically within the horsicq DIE‑engine component. The flaw is classified as CWE‑23 (Relative Path Traversal) and allows an attacker to write arbitrary files outside the intended extraction directory.
The vulnerability arises from improper path normalization during the extraction of archive files. When DIE processes a malicious archive – such as a specially crafted ZIP, TAR, or RAR – that includes entries with relative path traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../) or absolute paths (e.g., /etc/cron.d/evil), the engine fails to sanitize or reject these entries. As a result, during extraction, the archive entries are written to locations that can escape the designated working directory.
This behaviour can be exploited by an adversary who supplies a malicious archive to a victim. If the victim opens or extracts the archive using an affected version of DIE, the attacker can achieve arbitrary file write capabilities on the victim’s filesystem. An especially dangerous scenario occurs when the attacker overwrites a user’s startup script (e.g., ~/.bashrc, ~/.profile, or system‑level equivalents) to embed malicious commands. Upon the next user login or system reboot, the attacker’s code would be executed, granting persistent access or further compromising the system.
The attack vector is local: the victim must open a malicious archive with the vulnerable tool. The attack complexity is low, and no special privileges are required, but user interaction is necessary. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 7.1 (HIGH), while CVSS 4.0 gives a score of 6.8 (MEDIUM).
DailyCVE Form:
Platform: Detect‑It‑Easy
Version: 3.20 earlier
Vulnerability: Path traversal
Severity: Medium (6.8)
date: 2026‑05‑04
Prediction: Patch by Jun2026
Analytics under heading What Undercode Say:
Identify vulnerable installations find /usr -name diec 2>/dev/null | xargs strings | grep -i "detect it easy" | grep "3.20"
Manually check archive extraction behaviour mkdir testdir && cd testdir echo "malicious" > malicious.txt zip -r evil.zip malicious.txt -T Manually inspect DIE's extraction path handling
How Exploit:
- Craft a Malicious Archive – Create an archive (ZIP, TAR, RAR, etc.) containing entries with relative traversal sequences (e.g.,
../../../../home/user/.bashrc) or absolute paths (e.g.,/root/.ssh/authorized_keys). - Deliver to Victim – Trick the victim into opening the malicious archive using Detect‑It‑Easy 3.20 or earlier.
- Arbitrary File Write – DIE’s insecure extraction writes the archive contents outside the intended directory, overwriting critical files such as startup scripts.
- Persistent Code Execution – The next time the victim logs in or executes the affected script, the attacker’s code runs, providing persistence.
Protection:
- Upgrade – Immediately update to Detect‑It‑Easy version 3.21 or later, where the path traversal vulnerability has been fixed.
- Restrict Write Permissions – If an upgrade is not possible, run DIE in a sandbox or isolated container with extremely limited filesystem write permissions.
- Do Not Trust Untrusted Archives – Do not open or extract archives from untrusted sources until the tool is updated.
- Validate Paths – Administrators should implement strict path normalization and validation when extracting archives, rejecting any entry that attempts to reference a location outside the target directory.
Impact:
Successful exploitation of CVE-2026-43616 allows an attacker to write arbitrary files to the filesystem, leading to:
– Persistent Code Execution – By overwriting user‑level startup scripts, the attacker can gain repeated execution of malicious code.
– System Integrity Compromise – Critical configuration or system files can be overwritten, degrading trust in the system.
– Privilege Escalation Potential – If the tool is run with higher privileges (e.g., by an administrator), the attacker could overwrite system‑wide scripts (e.g., /etc/profile) to achieve full compromise.
– No Confidentiality Impact – The vulnerability does not directly allow reading files, but the ability to write arbitrary files often facilitates further attacks that can exfiltrate data.
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Sources:
Reported By: nvd.nist.gov
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