Docling: Potential Path Traversal via LaTeX \includegraphics and \input CommandsGHSA-2j5p-7p5m-cvqr
MEDIUMGHSA-2j5p-7p5m-cvqr is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in docling. A fix is available for docling — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-2j5p-7p5m-cvqr.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-2j5p-7p5m-cvqr by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 390,400 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
doclingReal-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
Impact
The LaTeX backend's handling of \includegraphics, \input, and \include commands lacked path containment validation. Attackers could craft malicious LaTeX documents with path traversal sequences (e.g., ../../../etc/passwd) to:
- Read arbitrary files from the file system accessible to the process
- Include sensitive files in the converted document output
- Potentially access configuration files, credentials, or other sensitive data
Patches
Fixed in version 2.91.0. The fix implements strict path validation using Path.resolve().is_relative_to() to ensure all resolved paths remain within the base document directory. Attempts to traverse outside the base directory are logged and blocked.
Workarounds
Avoid processing untrusted LaTeX documents. If processing is necessary, run in a sandboxed environment with restricted file system access.
References
- Fix release: v2.91.0
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | docling | ≥ 2.73.0&&< 2.91.0 | 2.91.0pip install --upgrade 'docling==2.91.0' |
Affected Products
doclingdoclingDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for docling, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update docling to 2.91.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-2j5p-7p5m-cvqr is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This Moderate impact flaw in Docling's LaTeX backend allows an attacker to read arbitrary files from the system. By crafting a malicious LaTeX document with path traversal sequences, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability when a user processes the document, potentially leading to the disclosure of sensitive…
To mitigate this vulnerability, avoid processing untrusted LaTeX documents with Docling. If processing untrusted documents is unavoidable, ensure that Docling operates within a sandboxed environment with strictly limited file system access to prevent unauthorized file reads.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-2j5p-7p5m-cvqr (CC BY 4.0)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-2j5p-7p5m-cvqr in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.