dbcve.org
Path TraversalWeakness · CWE-22

CVE-2026-43637

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-15
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available 5 weeks old

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
Cornac before 2.6.0 contains a path traversal (Tar Slip) vulnerability that allows attackers to write arbitrary files outside the intended cache directory by supplying a crafted TAR archive containing ../ sequences, absolute paths, or symlink/hardlink entries to the _extract_archive() function in cornac/utils/download.py. Attackers can trigger this vulnerability through the built-in dataset loaders, which automatically download and extract archives, causing archive.extractall() to write files to arbitrary locations on the filesystem accessible to the running process.

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

Cornac before 2.6.0 has a tar slip vulnerability in the _extract_archive() function where malicious TAR archives containing ../ path traversal sequences, absolute paths, or symlink/hardlink entries can escape the intended cache directory during extraction via archive.extractall(). The built-in dataset loaders automatically trigger this when downloading and extracting archives.

MitigationUpgrade to Cornac version 2.6.0 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 Cornac is installed
    Run 'pip show cornac' or import cornac in Python and print its version
    Affected if Cornac is installed and the version is below 2.6.0 (e.g., 2.5.0, 2.4.0, etc.)
  2. Verify the vulnerable function exists
    Inspect the Cornac source code for the _extract_archive() function in the module that handles archive extraction (typically in cornac/utils/extract.py or similar)
    Affected if The _extract_archive() function uses archive.extractall() without validating path traversal sequences
  3. Confirm dataset loader usage
    Search your codebase for calls to Cornac dataset loaders such as MovieLens, Amazon, or any loader that downloads and extracts archives (e.g., cornac.data.MovieLens)
    Affected if Your code uses Cornac built-in dataset loaders that automatically trigger _extract_archive() during data download and extraction
  4. Check cache directory configuration
    Inspect Cornac configuration for the cache directory path (cornac.data.io) and verify extraction operations occur within it
    Affected if Extraction targets a cache directory and archives are extracted without validating ../ sequences, absolute paths, or symlink/hardlink entries

You are affected if Cornac version is below 2.6.0 and your code uses built-in dataset loaders that automatically download and extract archives to a cache directory.

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch github.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Cornac version 2.6.0 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Cornac 2.6.0

  1. Upgrade Cornac to version 2.6.0 or later by running: pip install cornac>=2.6.0
  2. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds 2.6.0 by running: pip show cornac
  3. If using cornac in a project, ensure any code that calls _extract_archive() or uses archive.extractall() from dataset loaders is running with the updated package

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the patch applied

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-43637 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2026-43637 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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