CVE-2011-4617 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.2) CWE-59 vulnerability in virtualenv. A fix is available for virtualenv — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Virtualenv Allows Symlink Attack on /tmp/
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
virtualenvReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
virtualenv.py in virtualenv before 1.5 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a certain file in /tmp/.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | virtualenv | all versions | 1.5pip install --upgrade 'virtualenv==1.5' |
Affected Products
virtualenvpythonDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for virtualenv, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update virtualenv to 1.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2011-4617 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2011-4617 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.