GHSA-hrcw-xc63-g29m is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.6) Path Traversal vulnerability in pptagent. A fix is available for pptagent — see the affected versions and patch details below.
PPTAgent: Arbitrary File Write + Directory Creation via markdown_table_to_image
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-hrcw-xc63-g29m.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-hrcw-xc63-g29m plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
pptagentReal-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
Summary
The markdown_table_to_image tool accepts a caller-controlled path parameter and passes it directly to get_html_table_image:
# pptagent/mcp_server.py:127-143
def markdown_table_to_image(markdown_table: str, path: str, css: str) -> str:
"""
Args:
path (str): The file path where the image will be saved
"""
html = markdown_to_html(markdown_table)
get_html_table_image(html, path, css) # ← no path validation
return f"Markdown table converted to image and saved to {path}"
# pptagent/utils.py:337-366
def get_html_table_image(html: str, output_path: str, css: str = None):
parent_dir, base_name = os.path.split(output_path)
if parent_dir and not os.path.exists(parent_dir):
os.makedirs(parent_dir) # ← creates arbitrary directories
hti = Html2Image(...)
hti.screenshot(
html_str=html,
css_str=css,
save_as=base_name, # ← writes image to any directory
size=(1000, 600),
)
os.makedirs(parent_dir) creates arbitrary directory trees, and Html2Image.screenshot writes the rendered image to parent_dir/base_name. Unlike download_file in the same project, there is no is_relative_to(workspace) guard. This behaviour can be fixed with the same pattern as the above.
Impact
The concrete attack scenarios include
- SSH key replacement:
path = "/home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys"— replaces the authorized_keys file with an image binary (breaks - SSH but could be an image crafted with a specific PNG/JPEG payload). - Web shell:
path = "/var/www/html/uploads/shell.php"— writes the rendered PNG there; the file has the .php extension but PNG content; combined with Apache Options +MultiViews or file-include vulnerabilities could be dangerous. - Directory creation oracle:
path = "/root/test/probe.png"— if the directory is created, confirms the target path exists; if it errors, reveals permissions information.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | pptagent | all versions | 1.1.36pip install --upgrade 'pptagent==1.1.36' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pptagent, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update pptagent to 1.1.36 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hrcw-xc63-g29m 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-hrcw-xc63-g29m can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-hrcw-xc63-g29m. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-hrcw-xc63-g29m in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-hrcw-xc63-g29m across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.