How broadly exploitable is this vulnerability?

Exploitability depends on whether an attacker can control tar archives processed by esm.sh. If archive inputs come from untrusted or semi-trusted sources without additional validation, the issue may be directly exploitable; if archives are fully controlled and verified internally, the practical risk is lower.

Does an attacker need authenticated access to exploit this?

Not necessarily. The key requirement is the ability to influence or supply tar files that the vulnerable extraction code processes. In some deployments, this might be gated behind authenticated APIs; in others, it could be triggered via public or automated ingestion mechanisms.

What is the safest general fix pattern?

The safest approach is to enforce strict path confinement: normalize the entry path, join it with a designated base directory, and verify that the resulting path remains within that base. Reject entries with absolute paths or that resolve outside the allowed directory before any file operations occur.

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.5)

Path Traversal (CWE-22) in esm.sh Tar Archive Handling

CVE-2026-23644

Published:

Jan 18, 2026

Status:

Analyzed

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

NDV

Recent Vulnerabilities

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setGameSpeedCfg CGI Handler

Remote Code Execution on the Router

April 6, 2026

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setFirewallType Handler

Remote Code Execution on Router Firmware

April 6, 2026

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Path Traversal

CWE:

CWE-22

Impact:

Arbitrary File Write Outside Intended Directory

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.5)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Path Traversal

CWE:

CWE-22

Impact:

Arbitrary File Write Outside Intended Directory

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.5)

CVSS Version:

3.1

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Path Traversal (CWE-22) in esm.sh Tar Archive Handling

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Recent Vulnerabilities

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setGameSpeedCfg CGI Handler

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in Totolink A7100RU setFirewallType Handler

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

Ship clean & secure code faster

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