CVE-2026-96612

NameCVE-2026-96612
DescriptionImproper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in hexpm hex allows a malicious package publisher to delete a directory outside the project's deps directory and extract package files into it when a developer fetches dependencies. A package release's requirements carry an app label that names the dependency's OTP application. Hex takes this label from the repository's signed registry and uses it as the dependency's application name without validating it (Hex.RemoteConverger.deps/2, Hex.Mix.to_lock/1). Mix derives the dependency's checkout directory as deps/<app>, and Hex.SCM.update/1 runs File.rm_rf!/1 on that directory and unpacks the package into it. hex.pm only checks the label's length, so a publisher can set it to a value such as ../../target. When a project depends on such a release directly or transitively, mix deps.get or mix deps.update deletes the directory the label resolves to and writes the labelled package's files there. This happens before any dependency code is compiled. This issue affects hex: from 0.6.0 before 2.5.2.
SourceCVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source PackageReleaseVersionStatus
erlang-hex (PTS)trixie2.0.6-2vulnerable
forky, sid2.5.1-2vulnerable

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

PackageTypeReleaseFixed VersionUrgencyOriginDebian Bugs
erlang-hexsource(unstable)(unfixed)

Notes

[trixie] - erlang-hex <no-dsa> (Minor issue)
https://github.com/hexpm/hex/security/advisories/GHSA-2vjj-c5hr-6xc3
https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-96612.html
https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-96612
Introduced with: https://github.com/hexpm/hex/commit/380f87054e1bc08ee13d2b5311bc01f98dad2fc6 (v0.6.0)
Fixed by: https://github.com/hexpm/hex/commit/1b3e2ae8f0dd7273a2c2625b9e50b6c67c8568fb (v2.5.2)

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