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High · 7.1 Public exploit CVE-2026-39973 EUVD-2026-24043GHSA-m8mh-x359-vm8m

Apktool: Path Traversal to Arbitrary File Write

Published Apr 21, 2026 · Updated Apr 23, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

Apktool is a tool for reverse engineering Android APK files. In versions 3.0.0 and 3.0.1, a path traversal vulnerability in `brut/androlib/res/decoder/ResFileDecoder.java` allows a maliciously crafted APK to write arbitrary files to the filesystem during standard decoding (`apktool d`). This is a security regression introduced in commit e10a045 (PR #4041, December 12, 2025), which removed the `BrutIO.sanitizePath()` call that previously prevented path traversal in resource file output paths. An attacker can embed `../` sequences in the `resources.arsc` Type String Pool to escape the output directory and write files to arbitrary locations, including `~/.ssh/config`, `~/.bashrc`, or Windows Startup folders, escalating to RCE. The fix in version 3.0.2 re-introduces `BrutIO.sanitizePath()` in `ResFileDecoder.java` before file write operations.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
iBotPeaches Apktool >= 3.0.0, < 3.0.2 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 apktool No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS apktool No fix yet —
Ubuntu 25.10 apktool No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS apktool No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS apktool No fix yet —
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS apktool No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS apktool No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS apktool No fix yet —

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

GitHub 1 repository

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
Maven org.apktool:apktool-lib >= 3.0.0, < 3.0.2 3.0.2 GHSA-m8mh-x359-vm8m

References