Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
high 7.4

CVE-2026-78254 json

Apache Ant: Path traversal in ftp and scp tasks allows arbitrary file write

published 2026-09-07 2 mo ago modified 2026-09-09 2 mo ago also EUVD-2026-72281

cvss
7.4
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 44%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The ftp and scp tasks of Apache Ant can download files from a remote server. A malicious server can provide relative paths that allow it to write outside of the dedicated target directory for the download, making it possible to overwrite files of the attacker's choice using the permissions of the user running Ant in versions prior to Ant 1.10.18.

In order to exploit this vulnerability, the server would either have to be malicious or be subject to a machine-in-the-middle attack. Additionally in the case of scp or the ftp task using ftps the server must pass the server identity checks performed by the tasks.

For ftp tasks not using ftps a malicious server could act as a machine-in-the-middle to provide malicious files.

Starting with Ant 1.10.18 both tasks will prevent writing outside of the destination directory by default. An option is available to disable this behavior in the unlikely case that the old behavior is required by existing build files.

Mitigations:

Users of scp and ftp (when using ftps) in any version of Ant should not bypass server identity checks. Users of ftp not using ftps should switch to ftps where possible.

All users are recommended to upgrade to Apache Ant 1.10.18, which fixes this issue.

Patch / fix

  • Apache Software Foundation Apache Ant 1.10.18
  • ant Debian 14 1.10.18-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-78254

  • ant SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +8 more 1.10.18-150200.4.31.3
  • bsf SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +8 more 2.4.0-150200.13.8.2
  • qdox SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +8 more 2.0.1-150200.3.6.2
  • antlr SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +8 more 2.7.7-150200.18.10.2
  • junit5 SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +9 more 5.14.4-150200.3.15.15
  • jdepend SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +8 more 2.10-150200.11.6.2
  • picocli SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +9 more 4.7.6-150200.3.19.2
  • zstd-jni SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +8 more 1.5.7.16-150200.5.7.2

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:4677-1

  • ant openSUSE Leap 16.0 1.10.18-160000.1.1
  • ant-antlr openSUSE Leap 16.0 1.10.18-160000.1.1
  • ant-junit openSUSE Leap 16.0 1.10.18-160000.1.1
  • ant-junit5 openSUSE Leap 16.0 1.10.18-160000.1.1
  • ant openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.10.18-2.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21891-1openSUSE-SU-2026:11793-1

  • apache-ant Alpine 3.24 1.10.18-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2026-78254

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • ant Azure Linux 3.0 1.10.18-1

azure linux advisories AZL-99972

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

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-78254 updated cvss 6.8

org.apache.ant/ant: Apache Ant: Arbitrary file write via path traversal in ftp and scp tasks

  • Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Applications 8 mta/mta-cli-rhel9, mta/mta-java-external-provider-rhel9 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services jenkins 2.516.3.1758206866-3.el9 Red Hat build of Apicurio Registry 3 ant 1.10.12
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 ant, ant-jmf, ant-jsch, ant-trax, ant-antlr, ant-junit, +26 more
    affected: workaround, no fix available, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 groovy, groovy-javadoc, maven-shared-jar-javadoc, objectweb-anttask-javadoc, maven-shared-jar 1.1-8.el7, plexus-ant-factory-javadoc, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 jmc
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 tomcat-jakartaee-migration 1.0.6-1.el10 Red Hat JBoss Web Server 6 jws6-tomcat-jakartaee-migration, jws6-ecj 4.26.0-1.redhat_00002.1.el8jws Red Hat JBoss Web Server 7 jws7-ecj 4.38.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el9jws
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Single Sign-On 7 ant 1.10.12
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 ant, ant-jmf, ant-jsch, ant-antlr, ant-junit, ant-swing, +14 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 ant, ant-xz, ant-jmf, ant-lib, ant-jsch, ant-antlr, +16 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 ant, ant-xz, ant-jmf, ant-lib, ant-jsch, ant-antlr, +20 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 ant
    under investigation
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.12 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel8 1792044326
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88152
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.13 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel8 1792044327
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88149
show 11 more
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.14 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel8 1792044382
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88151
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.15 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel8 1792044386
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88150
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.16 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel9 1792040287
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88156
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.17 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel9 1792040131
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88159
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.18 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel9 1792041514
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88153
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.19 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel9 1792040733
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88158
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.20 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel9 1792040081
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88157
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.21 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel9 1792040096
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88155
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.22 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-rhel9 1792040428
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:88154
  • Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.12 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel8 1792044376 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.13 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel8 1792044361 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.14 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel8 1792044402 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.15 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel8 1792044379 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.16 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel9 1792040156 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.17 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel9 1792040149
    +7 more products
    Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.18 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel9 1792041201 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.19 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel9 1792040114 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.20 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel9 1792040274 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.21 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel9 1792039948 Red Hat OpenShift Developer Tools and Services 4.22 ocp-tools-4/jenkins-agent-base-rhel9 1792040297 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 txw2-javadoc, jandex-javadoc, ecj 4.5.2-3.el6, codemodel-javadoc, jandex 1.0.3-8.el7, codemodel 2.6-9.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 testng, glassfish-jaxb, testng-javadoc, glassfish-jaxb-bom, plexus-ant-factory, glassfish-jaxb-core, +16 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 maven-plugin-plugin, maven-plugin-tools-api, maven-plugin-tools-java, maven-plugin-annotations, maven-plugin-tools-generators, maven-plugin-tools-annotations Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 maven-plugin-tools 3.9.0-7.el10
    not affected: component not present

1 more not affected in the full advisory

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
2 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.52% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 44% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 7.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
CNA 3.1 7.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Affected products

  • Apache Software Foundation Apache Ant

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-23 Relative Path Traversal

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.