Path Traversal vulnerabilities
CWE-22 · 12 tracked
Path traversal (CWE-22) is a flaw where untrusted input is used to build a file path without restriction, letting an attacker reach files outside the intended directory.
How it’s exploited
An attacker supplies a path like ../../etc/passwd; the app joins it to a base directory without normalization, so the traversal sequences walk up and out — exposing config files, credentials, or source code.
How to prevent it
Canonicalize and validate paths against an allowlisted base directory, reject traversal sequences after normalization, and avoid passing user input to filesystem APIs directly.
Tracked path traversal vulnerabilities
12 CVEs in this class, each with severity, exploit status, EPSS, and remediation.
CVE-2026-54591CVE-2026-54550CVE-2026-54590CVE-2026-55629GHSA-88g4-74f3-63x9CVE-2026-55540CVE-2026-55527CVE-2026-55557CVE-2026-55092CVE-2026-55677GHSA-w8j7-39hp-8x59CVE-2026-64679
Frequently asked questions
- What is Path Traversal?
- Path traversal (CWE-22) is a flaw where untrusted input is used to build a file path without restriction, letting an attacker reach files outside the intended directory.
- How is path traversal exploited?
- An attacker supplies a path like ../../etc/passwd; the app joins it to a base directory without normalization, so the traversal sequences walk up and out — exposing config files, credentials, or source code.
- How do you prevent path traversal?
- Canonicalize and validate paths against an allowlisted base directory, reject traversal sequences after normalization, and avoid passing user input to filesystem APIs directly.
- How many path traversal vulnerabilities are there?
- O3 tracks 12 vulnerabilities classified as CWE-22 (Path Traversal), each with severity, exploit status, EPSS exploitation probability, and remediation. The full list is below.