GHSA-q2pw-xx38-p64j is a low-severity (CVSS 3.3) vulnerability in chainguard.dev/melange. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-q2pw-xx38-p64j is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
melange has Path Traversal via .PKGINFO in --persist-lint-results
Real-World Exposure
chainguard.dev/melangeReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
melange lint --persist-lint-results (opt-in flag, also usable via melange build --persist-lint-results) constructs output file paths by joining --out-dir with the arch and pkgname values read from the .PKGINFO control file of the APK being linted. In affected versions these values were not validated for path separators or .. sequences, so an attacker who can supply an APK to a melange-based lint/build pipeline (e.g. CI that lints third-party APKs, or build-as-a-service) could cause melange to write lint-<pkgname>-<pkgver>-r<epoch>.json to an arbitrary .json path reachable by the melange process. The written file is a JSON lint report whose content is partially attacker-influenced. There is no direct code-execution path, but the write can clobber other JSON artifacts on the filesystem. The issue only affects deployments that explicitly pass --persist-lint-results; the flag is off by default.
Patches
Fixed in melange v0.43.4 by validating arch and pkgname for .., /, and filepath.Separator before path construction in pkg/linter/results.go (commit 84f3b45).
Workarounds
Do not pass --persist-lint-results when linting or building APKs whose .PKGINFO contents are not fully trusted. Running melange as a low-privileged user and confining writes to an isolated directory also limits impact.
Credits
melange thanks Oleh Konko (@1seal from 1seal.org) for discovering and reporting this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | chainguard.dev/melange | ≥ 0.32.0&&< 0.43.4 | 0.43.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for chainguard.dev/melange. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update chainguard.dev/melange to 0.43.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-q2pw-xx38-p64j 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-q2pw-xx38-p64j is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-q2pw-xx38-p64j. 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-q2pw-xx38-p64j in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-q2pw-xx38-p64j across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.