How severe is GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf?

GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf has a CVSS score of 3.9/10, rated LOW. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf?

GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf affects the following packages: org.scala-sbt:sbt (Maven), org.scala-sbt:io_2.12 (Maven), org.scala-sbt:io_2.13 (Maven), org.scala-sbt:io_3 (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf?

Update org.scala-sbt:sbt to 1.9.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf in my Maven dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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.

Is GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf?

GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.4%, placing it in the 31th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf?

GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf is classified as Path Traversal (CWE-22). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf published, and has it been updated?

GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf was published on October 24, 2023 and was last updated on February 16, 2024. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕

☕ Maven

Not in CISA KEV

LOW severity

sbt vulnerable to arbitrary file write via archive extraction (Zip Slip)GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf

LOWFix: sbt/io#360

GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf is a low-severity (CVSS 3.9) Path Traversal vulnerability in org.scala-sbt:sbt. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.scala-sbt:sbt — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Also known asCVE-2023-46122

Published

Oct 24, 2023

Updated

Feb 16, 2024

Affected

4 pkgs

Patched

4 / 4

Exploits

1 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
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-h9mw-grgx-2fhf.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs31th percentile — riskier than 31% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

4 pkgs affected

☕org.scala-sbt:sbt☕org.scala-sbt:io_2.12☕org.scala-sbt:io_2.13☕org.scala-sbt:io_3

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

Description

Impact

Given specially crafted zip or JAR file, IO.unzip allows writing of arbitrary file. The follow is an example of a malicious entry:

+2018-04-15 22:04:42 ..... 20 20 ../../../../../../root/.ssh/authorized_keys

This would have a potential to overwrite /root/.ssh/authorized_keys. Within sbt's main code, IO.unzip is used in pullRemoteCache task and Resolvers.remote; however many projects use IO.unzip(...) directly to implement custom tasks - https://github.com/search?q=IO.unzip+language%3AScala&type=code&l=Scala&p=1

Patches

The problem has been patched in https://github.com/sbt/io/pull/360 sbt 1.9.7 is available with the fix.

Workarounds

A workaround might be use some other library to unzip.

References

Affected Packages

4 total 4 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.scala-sbt:sbt`	≥ 0.3.4&&< 1.9.7	1.9.7`org.scala-sbt:sbt:1.9.7`
☕Maven	`org.scala-sbt:io_2.12`	≥ 1.0.0&&< 1.9.7	1.9.7`org.scala-sbt:io_2.12:1.9.7`
☕Maven	`org.scala-sbt:io_2.13`	≥ 1.0.0&&< 1.9.7	1.9.7`org.scala-sbt:io_2.13:1.9.7`
☕Maven	`org.scala-sbt:io_3`	≥ 1.0.0&&< 1.9.7	1.9.7`org.scala-sbt:io_3:1.9.7`

Affected Products

2 products · 2 configurations

Application

ioscala-sbt

≥ 1.0.0 && < 1.9.7

range

Application

sbtscala-sbt

≥ 0.3.4 && < 1.9.7

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

sbt is a build tool for Scala, Java, and others. Given a specially craft…

github.comNVDOct 2023

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.scala-sbt:sbt, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.scala-sbt:sbt to 1.9.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-h9mw-grgx-2fhf 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact Given specially crafted zip or JAR file, `IO.unzip` allows writing of arbitrary file. The follow is an example of a malicious entry: ``` +2018-04-15 22:04:42 ..... 20 20 ../../../../../../root/.ssh/authorized_keys ``` This would have a potential to overwrite `/root/.ssh/authorized_keys`. Within sbt's main code, `IO.unzip` is used in `pullRemoteCache` task and `Resolvers.remote`; however many projects use `IO.unzip(...)` directly to implement custom tasks - https://github.com/search?q=IO.unzip+language%3AScala&type=code&l=Scala&p=1 ### Patches The problem has been patched in htt