GHSA-jwhx-xcg6-8xhj is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.8) CWE-61 vulnerability in aiohttp. A fix is available for aiohttp — see the affected versions and patch details below.
In aiohttp, compressed files as symlinks are not protected from path traversal
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-jwhx-xcg6-8xhj.
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-jwhx-xcg6-8xhj 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
aiohttpReal-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
Static routes which contain files with compressed variants (.gz or .br extension) were vulnerable to path traversal outside the root directory if those variants are symbolic links.
Details
The server protects static routes from path traversal outside the root directory when follow_symlinks=False (default). It does this by resolving the requested URL to an absolute path and then checking that path relative to the root. However, these checks are not performed when looking for compressed variants in the FileResponse class, and symbolic links are then automatically followed when performing Path.stat() and Path.open() to send the file.
Impact
Servers with static routes that contain compressed variants as symbolic links, pointing outside the root directory, or that permit users to upload or create such links, are impacted.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | aiohttp | ≥ 3.10.0b1&&< 3.10.2 | 3.10.2pip install --upgrade 'aiohttp==3.10.2' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for aiohttp, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update aiohttp to 3.10.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-jwhx-xcg6-8xhj 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-jwhx-xcg6-8xhj can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-jwhx-xcg6-8xhj. 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-jwhx-xcg6-8xhj in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-jwhx-xcg6-8xhj across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.