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RustSec disclosed that unzip 0.1.0, a Rust crate for extracting ZIP archives, is vulnerable to Zip Slip path traversal in unzip::Unzipper::unzip. The function uses attacker-controlled archive entry names to construct output paths without rejecting traversal components or absolute paths, allowing a malicious ZIP file to write files outside the intended extraction directory and potentially enabling code execution. The issue is tracked as RUSTSEC-2026-0297 and maps to CWE-22, CWE-23, and CWE-36.
All published versions are affected: unzip has only one release, version 0.1.0, and no fix is available. RustSec also designated the crate unmaintained under RUSTSEC-2026-0296, noting that its known vulnerability will not be remediated; organizations using it should remove or replace the dependency with an actively maintained alternative such as the Rust zip crate and ensure ZIP extraction code validates destination paths.
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4 events from the most recent confirmed update back to the earliest known activity.
RustSec issued RUSTSEC-2026-0296 classifying `unzip` as unmaintained, stating its known Zip Slip issue will not be fixed. The advisory recommends migrating to an actively maintained alternative such as the `zip` crate.
RustSec issued RUSTSEC-2026-0297 for the path-traversal vulnerability affecting all published versions of `unzip`. No patched version is available; the flaw can enable arbitrary file writes and is categorized as code execution.
A directory-traversal (Zip Slip) flaw in `unzip::Unzipper::unzip` was reported. Attacker-controlled ZIP entry names containing traversal components or absolute paths can cause writes outside the selected extraction directory.
The Rust `unzip` crate released its only published version, 0.1.0, providing ZIP archive extraction functionality.
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A high-severity directory traversal flaw, **CVE-2026-17524**, has been disclosed in the `zip-lib` package before version `1.1.0`, allowing attackers to bypass extraction safeguards and write files outside the intended destination folder. The bug stems from cached path-validation results during archive extraction: `zip-lib` checks the `isOutsideTargetFolder` condition only when an initial directory symlink is created, enabling later archive entries to evade traversal protections. The issue is mapped to **CWE-22** and carries a **CVSS 3.1** score reflecting network-exploitable impact with high confidentiality risk. The vulnerability fits the long-running **Zip Slip** class of archive extraction bugs, in which crafted archive entries such as `../../` paths can overwrite arbitrary files and potentially lead to remote code execution across ZIP, TAR, JAR, CPIO, and other formats. Security research has shown this pattern affects thousands of projects across multiple ecosystems when extraction logic concatenates archive entry names without robust validation, and offensive testing tools such as **Archive Pwn** have made it easier to generate malicious archives using traversal paths, symlink abuse, Unicode tricks, and other bypass techniques. The `zip-lib` disclosure underscores that archive handling remains a persistent software supply chain and application security risk even years after the original Zip Slip wave of fixes.
Jul 29, 2026
Two high-severity vulnerabilities in the widely used open-source compression utility 7-Zip have been disclosed, allowing attackers to achieve remote code execution by leveraging specially crafted ZIP archives. The flaws, identified as CVE-2025-11001 and CVE-2025-11002, were reported by Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative and affect multiple builds of 7-Zip. These vulnerabilities arise from improper parsing of symbolic links within ZIP files, enabling a malicious archive to escape its intended extraction directory and write files to arbitrary locations on the victim’s system. If exploited, this directory traversal can be chained to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running 7-Zip, potentially compromising the entire Windows environment. Both vulnerabilities have been assigned a CVSS base score of 7.0, reflecting their significant risk. Exploitation requires minimal user interaction; simply opening or extracting a malicious ZIP file is sufficient to trigger the attack. The vulnerabilities were quietly patched in 7-Zip version 25.00, released on July 5, 2025, but details were not publicly disclosed until October, leaving users unaware and exposed for several months if they had not updated. The lack of an automatic update mechanism in 7-Zip exacerbates the risk, as many users may not be running the latest, patched version. The vulnerabilities specifically allow attackers to overwrite or plant payloads in sensitive system paths, which can be used to hijack execution flow and escalate privileges. Security advisories emphasize the importance of updating to version 25.00 or later to mitigate these risks. The flaws highlight the ongoing challenges in securing widely deployed open-source tools, especially those lacking robust update mechanisms. Organizations relying on 7-Zip for file compression and extraction should prioritize patching and consider additional controls to limit the impact of potential exploitation. The vulnerabilities underscore the need for user awareness regarding the risks of opening files from untrusted sources. Security researchers warn that similar directory traversal and symlink handling issues may exist in other archiving tools, warranting broader scrutiny. The incident demonstrates the value of coordinated vulnerability disclosure and timely patch adoption. Enterprises are advised to audit their environments for outdated 7-Zip installations and deploy the latest version as a matter of urgency. The disclosure also serves as a reminder for software maintainers to implement secure default behaviors and consider automated update features to protect end users.
Jul 12, 2026
A newly published archive-parsing weakness, **CVE-2026-0866** (dubbed **“Zombie ZIP”**), enables attackers to craft **malformed ZIP files** that can evade many antivirus and EDR scanners by manipulating ZIP header metadata. The technique sets the ZIP entry’s compression method to `STORED` while the embedded content remains **DEFLATED**, causing security tools that trust the header to **skip decompression and scanning**, resulting in false negatives. The malformed archives also typically fail to open or extract with standard ZIP utilities, which may surface errors such as CRC or unsupported method failures. Technical analysis shows the inconsistency can be detected by inspecting ZIP record metadata (e.g., `STORED` entries where compressed and uncompressed sizes differ) and by using tooling that bypasses standard ZIP libraries to parse raw records and forcibly decompress data. The SANS ISC write-up demonstrates analysis workflows and updates to *zipdump.py* (including a `forcedecompress` capability) to recover the hidden payload (illustrated with an embedded **EICAR** test file), while reporting indicates real-world abuse would likely pair the malformed archive with a **custom loader** that ignores the falsified header and directly extracts/decompresses the concealed content for execution.
Jun 29, 2026