AIKIDO-2026-383743
powershell is vulnerable to Path Traversal
53
Medium Risk
This Affects:
powershellTL;DR
The Update-Help and Save-Help cmdlets in powershell extract downloaded help content from CAB archives. The extraction routine combines each archive entry path with the destination help directory without validating it, so an entry containing directory traversal sequences, a rooted or UNC path, or an alternate data stream reference is written outside the intended directory. Processing a crafted help CAB from an untrusted help source therefore allows arbitrary files to be created or overwritten, which can lead to code execution. The fix validates each entry against the canonical help directory and rejects rooted paths, colon/ADS paths, and any path that resolves outside the target directory.
Who does this affect?
You are affected if you are using a version that falls within the vulnerable range and you run Update-Help or Save-Help against an untrusted or attacker-controlled help source.
Background info
powershell is vulnerable to Path Traversal in versions 7.0.0 - 7.4.17, 7.5.0 - 7.5.8 and 7.6.0 - 7.6.3.
How to fix this
Upgrade the powershell library to the patch version.
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SOC 2Compliant
ISO 27001Compliant