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Path traversal vulnerabilities

High
pjbgf published GHSA-qw64-3x98-g7q2 May 11, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/go-git/go-billy/v5 (Go)

Affected versions

< v5.9.0

Patched versions

v5.9.0
gomod github.com/go-git/go-billy/v6 (Go)
< v6.0.0-alpha.1
v6.0.0-alpha.1

Description

Impact

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.

The osfs.ChrootOS implementation is notably affected by this vulnerability and is now deprecated in v5, removed at v6. Users are recommended to move on to osfs.BoundOS instead: osfs.New(path, WithBoundOS()).

Users requiring stronger security boundary enforcement are recommended to upgrade to v6, where the osfs implementation are backed by the traversal-resistant primitive os.Root.

Patches

Users should upgrade to a patched version in order to mitigate this vulnerability. Versions prior to v5 are likely to be affected, users are recommended to upgrade to a supported go-billy version.

Credits

Thanks to @faran66 and @vnykmshr for finding and separately reporting this issue privately to the go-git project. 🙇

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

CVE ID

CVE-2026-44973

Weaknesses

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Learn more on MITRE.

Credits