Path TraversalWeakness · CWE-22

CVE-2026-44973

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Billy is an interface filesystem abstraction for Go. Prior to 5.9.0, multiple path traversal issues exist across different components of go-billy. Insufficient path sanitization and boundary enforcement may allow crafted paths (e.g., using ..) to escape intended base directories. While go-billy was not originally designed to provide a strong security boundary, some of these issues were inconsistent across some of the built-in implementations. This results in scenarios where applications relying on go-billy for some level of isolation may inadvertently expose access to unintended filesystem locations. This vulnerability is fixed in 5.9.0.

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

Billy (go-billy) versions before 5.9.0 contain multiple path traversal vulnerabilities due to insufficient path sanitization and inconsistent boundary enforcement across built-in filesystem implementations. Attackers can use path traversal sequences (e.g., '../') to escape intended base directories and access filesystem locations outside the intended scope.

MitigationUpgrade go-billy to version 5.9.0 or later to obtain the path sanitization fixes, and audit existing code that relies on Billy for filesystem isolation to ensure proper usage patterns.

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

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

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 go-billy as a dependency
    Search your project for go-billy imports (e.g., 'gopkg.in/billy.v*') in go.mod, go.sum, or source files
    Affected if go-billy is present as a dependency
  2. Check the installed version
    Run 'go list -m all | grep billy' or inspect go.mod to find the exact version of go-billy
    Affected if version is below 5.9.0 or cannot be determined to be 5.9.0 or later
  3. Determine if the application relies on go-billy for security boundaries
    Review code for uses of go-billy's filesystem where isolation is intended (e.g., restricting file access to a base directory)
    Affected if the application uses go-billy to enforce directory isolation or access controls
  4. Check if user-controlled input flows to filesystem operations
    Search for patterns where user input (HTTP parameters, API payloads, CLI arguments) is passed to billy filesystem methods like Open, ReadDir, or Write
    Affected if user input reaches go-billy filesystem operations without additional sanitization beyond what go-billy provides

If go-billy is present with a version below 5.9.0 and the application relies on its directory isolation for security or processes user input through it, the environment is likely affected.

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

Upgrade go-billy to version 5.9.0 or later to obtain the path sanitization fixes, and audit existing code that relies on Billy for filesystem isolation to ensure proper usage patterns.

Recommended fix High confidence

billy v5.9.0

  1. 1. Locate the go-billy dependency in your project's go.mod file
  2. 2. Run 'go get github.com/go-billy/[email protected]' to upgrade to the fixed version
  3. 3. Run 'go mod tidy' to update the dependency tree
  4. 4. Rebuild and test your application to verify the upgrade doesn't break existing functionality
Caveat Review release notes for v5.9.0 to check for any API changes in Billy interfaces; some filesystem implementations may have modified behavior

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,600
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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-2026-44973 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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