CVE-2026-50558

Received Received - Intake

Path Traversal in Penelope Shell Handler

Publication date: 2026-07-29

Last updated on: 2026-07-29

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description

Penelope Shell Handler is a post-exploitation shell handler for authorized security testing. Prior to 0.20.0, the Unix download() implementation in penelope.py used tar.extractall(local_download_folder) on tar archives returned by remote sessions without validating member paths, allowing a malicious or compromised session to write files outside the intended download directory and potentially overwrite ~/.penelope/peneloperc. This issue is fixed in version 0.20.0.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-07-29

Last Modified

2026-07-29

Generated

2026-07-30

AI Q&A

2026-07-30

EPSS Evaluated

N/A

NVD

CVE-2026-50558

Affected Vendors & Products

Currently, no data is known.

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-22	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.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability exists in Penelope Shell Handler versions before 0.20.0. The issue is in the Unix download() function in penelope.py, which uses tar.extractall() to extract tar archives from remote sessions without validating member paths. This allows a malicious session to write files outside the intended download directory and potentially overwrite ~/.penelope/peneloperc.

Detection Guidance

Check the installed version of Penelope Shell Handler. If it is below 0.20.0, the system is vulnerable. Run: pip show penelope-shell-handler to verify the version.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to overwrite critical configuration files like ~/.penelope/peneloperc, potentially gaining persistent access or disrupting the tool's functionality. The impact includes unauthorized file writes and possible system compromise depending on file permissions.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Penelope Shell Handler to version 0.20.0 or later. Use: pip install --upgrade penelope-shell-handler. Remove any untrusted sessions or files that may have been created outside the intended download directory.

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