How severe is GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6?

GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 has a CVSS score of 7.3/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6?

GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 affects the following packages: actions/download-artifact (GitHub Actions). Ecosystems affected: GitHub Actions.

How do I fix GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6?

Update actions/download-artifact to 4.1.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 in my GitHub Actions dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for actions/download-artifact, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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.

How does O3 Security protect against GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6?

O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Is GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

When was GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 was published on September 3, 2024 and was last updated on January 22, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦

📦 GitHub Actions

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 — actions/download-artifact

HIGH

GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.3) vulnerability in actions/download-artifact. A fix is available for actions/download-artifact — see the affected versions and patch details below.

@actions/download-artifact has an Arbitrary File Write via artifact extraction

Published

Sep 3, 2024

Updated

Jan 22, 2025

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Jan 22, 2025 · OSV.dev, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

📦actions/download-artifact

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects GitHub Actions packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Impact

Versions of actions/download-artifact before 4.1.3 are vulnerable to arbitrary file write when downloading and extracting a specifically crafted artifact that contains path traversal filenames.

Patches

Upgrade to version 4.1.3 or higher. Alternatively use 'v4' tag which points to the latest and secure version.

References

CVE

CVE-2024-42471

Credits

Justin Taft from Google

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦GitHub Actions	`actions/download-artifact`	≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.1.3	4.1.3

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for actions/download-artifact, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update actions/download-artifact to 4.1.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact Versions of `actions/download-artifact` before 4.1.3 are vulnerable to arbitrary file write when downloading and extracting a specifically crafted artifact that contains path traversal filenames. ### Patches Upgrade to version 4.1.3 or higher. Alternatively use 'v4' tag which points to the latest and secure version. ### References - https://snyk.io/research/zip-slip-vulnerability - https://github.com/actions/download-artifact/releases/tag/v4.1.3 - https://github.com/actions/download-artifact/pull/299 ### CVE CVE-2024-42471 ### Credits Justin Taft from Google

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds GHSA-cxww-7g56-2vh6 across GitHub Actions dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works