GitHub Advisoryadvisory · PyPI
GHSA-389r-rccm-h3h5 eml_parser: Path Traversal in Official Example Script Leads to Arbitrary File Write
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-29780
- Ecosystem
- PyPI
- Packages
- eml-parser
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-22
- Reviewed
- 2026-03-05
Affected packages
• PyPI eml-parser: < 2.0.1 → fixed in 2.0.1
Description
Summary
The official example script `examples/recursively_extract_attachments.py` contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows arbitrary file write outside the intended output directory. Attachment filenames extracted from parsed emails are directly used to construct output file paths without any sanitization, allowing an attacker-controlled filename to escape the target directory.
Details
File: `examples/recursively_extract_attachments.py`
Lines: 61–64
```python
for a in m['attachment']:
out_filepath = out_path / a['filename'] # No sanitization
print(f'\tWriting attachment: {out_filepath}')
with out_filepath.open('wb') as a_out:
a_out.write(base64.b64decode(a['raw']))
```
The value `a['filename']` is attacker-controlled via crafted email attachment headers:
```
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="../outside/pwned.txt"
```
No path normalization or boundary validation is performed before writing.
PoC
1. Create a malicious `.eml` file:
```
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="../outside/pwned.txt"
```
2. Run the example script:
```
python recursively_extract_attachments.py -p ./emails -o ./safe
```
3. Expected: `./safe/pwned.txt`
4. Actual: `./outside/pwned.txt` ← written outside the intended directory
Verified on Kali Linux with eml_parser installed via pip in a virtual environment.
Impact
This vulnerability is limited to the example script only and does not affect the core eml_parser library. However, as the script is part of the official repository and is likely to be adapted for production use, an attacker supplying a crafted email could achieve arbitrary file write within the execution context.
Potential attack scenarios include:
• Cron job injection: `filename="../../etc/cron.d/backdoor"`
• Web shell upload: `filename="../../var/www/html/shell.php"`
• SSH key injection: `filename="../../home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys"`
Recommended Fix
```python
import os.path
for a in m['attachment']:
filename = os.path.basename(a['filename'])
out_filepath = out_path / filename
if not out_filepath.resolve().is_relative_to(out_path.resolve()):
print(f'[!] Skipping suspicious filename: {a["filename"]}')
continue
print(f'\tWriting attachment: {out_filepath}')
with out_filepath.open('wb') as a_out:
a_out.write(base64.b64decode(a['raw']))
```
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-29780 eml_parser serves as a python module for parsing eml files and returning various information found in the e-mail as well as computed… vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory weakness
References
- https://github.com/GOVCERT-LU/eml_parser/security/advisories/GHSA-389r-rccm-h3h5 web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-29780 advisory
- https://github.com/GOVCERT-LU/eml_parser/issues/88 web
- https://github.com/GOVCERT-LU/eml_parser/commit/99af03a09a90aaaaadd0ed2ffb5eea46d1ea2cc9 web
- https://github.com/GOVCERT-LU/eml_parser package