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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.4

CVE-2026-23942 json

SFTP root escape via component-agnostic prefix check in ssh_sftpd

published 2026-03-13 7 mo ago modified 2026-07-24 3 mo ago also EUVD-2026-11778

cvss
5.4
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 35%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in Erlang OTP (ssh_sftpd module) allows Path Traversal.

This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/ssh/src/ssh_sftpd.erl and program routines ssh_sftpd:is_within_root/2.

The SFTP server uses string prefix matching via lists:prefix/2 rather than proper path component validation when checking if a path is within the configured root directory. This allows authenticated users to access sibling directories that share a common name prefix with the configured root directory. For example, if root is set to /home/user1, paths like /home/user10 or /home/user1_backup would incorrectly be considered within the root.

This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 28.4.1, OTP 27.3.4.9 and OTP 26.2.5.18, corresponding to ssh from 3.0.1 before 5.5.1, 5.2.11.6 and 5.1.4.14.

Patch / fix

  • Erlang OTP 5.1.4.14, 5.2.11.6, 5.5.1, 26.2.5.18, 27.3.4.9, 28.4.1
  • erlang Debian 12 1:25.2.3+dfsg-1+deb12u4
  • erlang Debian 13 1:27.3.4.1+dfsg-1+deb13u2
  • erlang Debian 14 1:27.3.4.9+dfsg-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23942

  • erlang Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 1:24.2.1+dfsg-1ubuntu0.8
  • erlang Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 1:25.3.2.8+dfsg-1ubuntu4.8
  • erlang Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.2
  • erlang Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS 1:16.b.3-dfsg-1ubuntu2.2+esm3
  • erlang Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 1:18.3-dfsg-1ubuntu3.1+esm4
  • erlang Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS 1:20.2.2+dfsg-1ubuntu2+esm4
  • erlang Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 1:22.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu0.5+esm3

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23942

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • erlang27 openSUSE Tumbleweed 27.1.3-2.1
  • erlang openSUSE Leap 16.0 27.1.3-160000.4.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:10947-1openSUSE-SU-2026:20607-1

  • erlang Azure Linux 3.0 26.2.5.18-1

azure linux advisories AZL-79874

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
7 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.41% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 35% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 4.0 5.3 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CNA 4.0 5.3 CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
NVD 3.1 5.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Affected products

  • Erlang OTP

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.