CVE-2026-32147

Severity CVSS v4.0:
MEDIUM
Type:
CWE-22 Path Traversal
Publication date:
21/04/2026
Last modified:
21/04/2026

Description

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory (&amp;#39;Path Traversal&amp;#39;) vulnerability in Erlang OTP ssh (ssh_sftpd module) allows an authenticated SFTP user to modify file attributes outside the configured chroot directory.<br /> <br /> The SFTP daemon (ssh_sftpd) stores the raw, user-supplied path in file handles instead of the chroot-resolved path. When SSH_FXP_FSETSTAT is issued on such a handle, file attributes (permissions, ownership, timestamps) are modified on the real filesystem path, bypassing the root directory boundary entirely.<br /> <br /> Any authenticated SFTP user on a server configured with the root option can modify file attributes of files outside the intended chroot boundary. The prerequisite is that a target file must exist on the real filesystem at the same relative path. Note that this vulnerability only allows modification of file attributes; file contents cannot be read or altered through this attack vector.<br /> <br /> If the SSH daemon runs as root, this enables direct privilege escalation: an attacker can set the setuid bit on any binary, change ownership of sensitive files, or make system configuration world-writable.<br /> <br /> This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/ssh/src/ssh_sftpd.erl and program routines ssh_sftpd:do_open/4 and ssh_sftpd:handle_op/4.<br /> <br /> This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 until OTP 28.4.3, 27.3.4.11, and 26.2.5.20 corresponding to ssh from 3.01 until 5.5.3, 5.2.11.7, and 5.1.4.15.