GHSA-389r-rccm-h3h5

ghsaUSosv

eml_parser: Path Traversal in Official Example Script Leads to Arbitrary File Write

view advisory published 2026-03-05Licence: CC-BY-4.0

### Summary The official example script `examples/recursively_extract_attachments.py` contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows arbitrary file write outside the intended output directory. Attachment filenames extracted from parsed emails are directly used to construct output file paths without any sanitization, allowing an attacker-controlled filename to escape the target directory. ### Details File: `examples/recursively_extract_attachments.py` Lines: 61–64 ```python for a in m['attachment']: out_filepath = out_path / a['filename'] # No sanitization print(f'\tWriting attachment: {out_filepath}') with out_filepath.open('wb') as a_out: a_out.write(base64.b64decode(a['raw'])) ``` The value `a['filename']` is attacker-controlled via crafted email attachment headers: ``` Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="../outside/pwned.txt" ``` No path normalization or boundary validation is performed before writing. ### PoC 1. Create a malicious `.eml` file: ``` Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="../outside/pwned.txt" ``` 2. Run the example script: ``` python recursively_extract_attachments.py -p ./emails -o ./safe ``` 3. Expected: `./safe/pwned.txt` 4. Actual: `./outside/pwned.txt` ← written outside the intended directory Verified on Kali Linux with eml_parser installed via pip in a virtual environment. ### Impact This vulnerability is limited to the **example script only** and does not affect the core eml_parser library. However, as the script is part of the official repository and is likely to be adapted for production use, an attacker supplying a crafted email could achieve arbitrary file write within the execution context. Potential attack scenarios include: - Cron job injection: `filename="../../etc/cron.d/backdoor"` - Web shell upload: `filename="../../var/www/html/shell.php"` - SSH key injection: `filename="../../home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys"` ### Recommended Fix ```python import os.path for a in m['attachment']: filename = os.path.basename(a['filename']) out_filepath = out_path / filename if not out_filepath.resolve().is_relative_to(out_path.resolve()): print(f'[!] Skipping suspicious filename: {a["filename"]}') continue print(f'\tWriting attachment: {out_filepath}') with out_filepath.open('wb') as a_out: a_out.write(base64.b64decode(a['raw'])) ```

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Related CVEs.

IDseverity exploitable
CVE-2026-29780US—Exploit
eml_parser serves as a python module for parsing eml files and returning various information found in the e-mail as well as computed information. Prior to version 2.0.1, the offici…
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