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Magic WormholeApplication · Magic Wormhole Project

CVE-2026-32116

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.23.0 or later.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
Magic Wormhole makes it possible to get arbitrary-sized files and directories from one computer to another. From 0.21.0 to before 0.23.0, receiving a file (wormhole receive) from a malicious party could result in overwriting critical local files, including ~/.ssh/authorized_keys and .bashrc. This could be used to compromise the receiver's computer. Only the sender of the file (the party who runs wormhole send) can mount the attack. Other parties (including the transit/relay servers) are excluded by the wormhole protocol. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.23.0.

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

Magic Wormhole versions 0.21.0 through 0.22.x contain a path traversal vulnerability during file reception that allows a malicious sender to overwrite arbitrary files on the receiver's system, including sensitive files like ~/.ssh/authorized_keys and .bashrc, leading to potential system compromise.

MitigationUpgrade Magic Wormhole to version 0.23.0 or later to patch the vulnerability. Avoid receiving files from untrusted or unknown senders until the upgrade is applied.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Magic WormholeApplication
Affected:>= 0.21.0, < 0.23.0

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
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check if Magic Wormhole is installed
    Run 'wormhole --version' or 'pip show magic-wormhole' to retrieve the installed version
    Affected if No output or command not found means Magic Wormhole is not installed
  2. Compare installed version to affected range
    Parse the version number from the output of 'wormhole --version' or 'pip show magic-wormhole' and compare it to the vulnerable range: >= 0.21.0 and < 0.23.0
    Affected if Version falls within 0.21.0 to 0.22.x inclusive - this indicates the installed version is vulnerable
  3. Verify file reception capability is used
    Check for presence of ~/.wormhole/ directory or review recent command history for 'wormhole receive' or 'wormhole get' commands used to receive files
    Affected if The file reception feature has been used - this confirms the attack surface exists for this vulnerability

If Magic Wormhole is installed with a version between 0.21.0 and 0.22.x and file reception has been used, the environment is likely affected by this path traversal vulnerability.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 0.23.0 or later
Fixed in 0.23.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Magic Wormhole to version 0.23.0 or later to patch the vulnerability. Avoid receiving files from untrusted or unknown senders until the upgrade is applied.

Recommended fix High confidence

0.23.0 or later

  1. Verify current installed version: pip show magic-wormhole or pip3 show magic-wormhole
  2. Stop any running wormhole receive processes to prevent race conditions during upgrade
  3. Upgrade to the fixed version: pip install --upgrade magic-wormhole==0.23.0 or pip3 install --upgrade magic-wormhole==0.23.0
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful: pip show magic-wormhole and confirm version 0.23.0 or later is installed
  5. Test that wormhole receive works normally with a test transfer

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Magic Wormhole Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,210
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,936.

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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-2026-32116 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data