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Path TraversalWeakness · CWE-22

CVE-2025-3445

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
A Path Traversal "Zip Slip" vulnerability has been identified in mholt/archiver in Go. This vulnerability allows using a crafted ZIP file containing path traversal symlinks to create or overwrite files with the user's privileges or application utilizing the library. When using the archiver.Unarchive functionality with ZIP files, like this: archiver.Unarchive(zipFile, outputDir),  A crafted ZIP file can be extracted in such a way that it writes files to the affected system with the same privileges as the application executing this vulnerable functionality. Consequently, sensitive files may be overwritten, potentially leading to privilege escalation, code execution, and other severe outcomes in some cases. It's worth noting that a similar vulnerability was found in TAR files (CVE-2024-0406). Although a fix was implemented, it hasn't been officially released, and the affected project has since been deprecated. The successor to mholt/archiver is a new project called mholt/archives, and its initial release (v0.1.0) removes the Unarchive() functionality.

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 · high confidence

A Path Traversal Zip Slip vulnerability in mholt/archiver allows crafted ZIP files containing path traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../etc/passwd) to write files outside the intended output directory when using archiver.Unarchive(), enabling overwriting of sensitive system files with the application's privileges.

MitigationMigrate to the successor project mholt/archives which removes the vulnerable Unarchive functionality, or implement path validation to ensure extracted paths remain within the target directory before file creation.

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
High
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if mholt/archiver is used
    Check your project dependencies (e.g., go.mod file, vendor directory, or dependency lock file) for the 'mholt/archiver' import
    Affected if The library mholt/archiver is present in dependencies
  2. Determine the installed version
    Look for the version of mholt/archiver in your dependency management file (go.mod shows require block, or check vendor/mod for version tag)
    Affected if The version is earlier than the fixed version in the upstream repository (v3.1.0+ contains fixes, verify against current release)
  3. Check for Unarchive usage in code
    Search source code for calls to archiver.Unarchive, archiver.NewReader, or similar extraction functions that process archive files
    Affected if Code contains calls to archiver.Unarchive() or related extraction methods that handle ZIP files
  4. Verify ZIP file processing is active
    Review application code paths that handle user-uploaded or external ZIP file extraction, looking for where Unarchive is called with user-controlled input
    Affected if The application extracts ZIP files using archiver and the archive source is external or untrusted input
  5. Inspect extraction destination configuration
    Check whether the Unarchive call specifies a target directory and whether any path validation exists before extraction
    Affected if Extraction occurs to a filesystem location without explicit path traversal guards

You are affected if your application uses the mholt/archiver library with Unarchive() to extract ZIP files from untrusted or external sources, and the library version predates the fix.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Migrate to the successor project mholt/archives which removes the vulnerable Unarchive functionality, or implement path validation to ensure extracted paths remain within the target directory before file creation.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-3445 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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