How broadly exploitable is this vulnerability?

Exploitability depends on who can supply wheel files and where `wheel unpack` is run. In environments where developers or automated systems unpack wheels from semi-trusted or public sources, an attacker who can publish or substitute a malicious wheel can potentially trigger permission changes on sensitive files that the unpacking user account can reach.

What level of access does an attacker need to take advantage of this issue?

The attacker must be able to influence or provide a wheel file that is processed by a vulnerable `wheel` installation. They do not necessarily need direct shell access; compromising a package repository, dependency chain, or build artifact can be enough if the unpack command is executed on their crafted file by a privileged user or CI agent.

What is the safest general fix pattern for developers and maintainers?

The safest pattern is to ensure that all post-extraction operations use the exact sanitized paths produced by the extraction logic, never the raw file names from archive metadata. Additionally, enforce that permission changes are limited to the extraction directory, apply conservative permission defaults, and strictly validate all filenames before acting on them.

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.1)

Path Traversal and Insecure Permission Change (CWE-22, CWE-732) in Python wheel Unpack Function

CVE-2026-24049

Published:

Jan 21, 2026

Status:

Awaiting Analysis

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-306

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

Missing Authentication for Forgot-Password Email Change API (CWE-306)

Account Takeover / Loss of Account Control

February 17, 2026

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in node-sonos-http-api TTS Provider for macOS

Remote Code Execution on the Server Host

February 17, 2026

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Path Traversal and Insecure Permission Management

CWE:

CWE-22;CWE-732

Impact:

Privilege Escalation and Arbitrary File Permission Modification

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.1)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Path Traversal and Insecure Permission Management

CWE:

CWE-22;CWE-732

Impact:

Privilege Escalation and Arbitrary File Permission Modification

Severity:

HIGH RISK

(7.1)

CVSS Version:

3.1

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Ask AI for summary of CodeAnt

Path Traversal and Insecure Permission Change (CWE-22, CWE-732) in Python wheel Unpack Function

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

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

Missing Authentication for Forgot-Password Email Change API (CWE-306)

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in node-sonos-http-api TTS Provider for macOS

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

Ship clean & secure code faster

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