CVE-2023-5938
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedMultiple functions use archives without properly validating the filenames therein, rendering the application vulnerable to path traversal via 'zip slip' attacks. An administrator able to provide tampered archives to be processed by the affected versions of Arc may be able to have arbitrary files extracted to arbitrary filesystem locations. Leveraging this issue, an attacker may be able to overwrite arbitrary files on the target filesystem and cause critical impacts on the system (e.g., arbitrary command execution on the victim’s machine).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceArc contains a zip slip vulnerability where multiple archive processing functions fail to validate filenames within archives before extraction. Attackers can craft archives containing files with path traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../etc/passwd) to write files to arbitrary filesystem locations outside the intended extraction directory, potentially achieving arbitrary command execution.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine if Arc is installedLocate the Arc application on the system. On Windows, check Program Files or AppData directories. On macOS, check /Applications. On Linux, check common install paths like /opt or /usr/local.Affected if Arc software is present on the system
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Find the installed version of ArcRun the application with --version flag, check the about dialog, or examine version metadata files in the installation directory.Affected if Unable to determine version or version cannot be compared to known fixed versions
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Identify if archive extraction features are usedReview Arc's functionality for any features that extract zip, tar, or other archive formats. Check logs, recent file history, or configuration for archive-related operations.Affected if Arc processes or extracts archive files from untrusted sources
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Check for path traversal in recent archive extractionsExamine extraction logs, temporary directories, or the filesystem for any files extracted outside the intended target directory. Look for patterns like "../" in extracted file paths.
The environment is affected if Arc is installed and its archive extraction functionality processes archives without validating file paths, allowing path traversal sequences to write files outside the target directory.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataImplement strict filename validation for all archive extractions by checking for path traversal sequences and ensuring extracted files remain within the intended target directory using canonical path comparisons.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,544.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-5938 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-5938 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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