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High · 7.5 CVE-2026-96612 EUVD-2026-97508

Path traversal in Hex via unvalidated dependency app names

Published Oct 12, 2026 · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Assigned by EEF

Description

Improper 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.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
hexpm hex 0.6.0 – < 2.5.2 2.5.2

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
Debian 14 erlang-hex 2.5.3-2 —
Debian 13 erlang-hex No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 26.10 erlang-hex No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS erlang-hex No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS erlang-hex No fix yet —

References