wheel is a command line tool for manipulating Python wheel files, as defined in PEP 427. In versions 0.46.1 and below, the unpack function is vulnerable to file permission modification through mishandling of file permissions after extraction. The logic blindly trusts the filename from the archive header for the chmod operation, even though the extraction process itself might have sanitized the path. Attackers can craft a malicious wheel file that, when unpacked, changes the permissions of critical system files (e.g., /etc/passwd, SSH keys, config files), allowing for Privilege Escalation or arbitrary code execution by modifying now-writable scripts. This issue has been fixed in version 0.46.2.
History

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 04:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description wheel is a command line tool for manipulating Python wheel files, as defined in PEP 427. In versions 0.46.1 and below, the unpack function is vulnerable to file permission modification through mishandling of file permissions after extraction. The logic blindly trusts the filename from the archive header for the chmod operation, even though the extraction process itself might have sanitized the path. Attackers can craft a malicious wheel file that, when unpacked, changes the permissions of critical system files (e.g., /etc/passwd, SSH keys, config files), allowing for Privilege Escalation or arbitrary code execution by modifying now-writable scripts. This issue has been fixed in version 0.46.2.
Title wheel Allows Arbitrary File Permission Modification via Path Traversal
Weaknesses CWE-22
CWE-732
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-01-22T04:02:08.706Z

Reserved: 2026-01-20T22:30:11.778Z

Link: CVE-2026-24049

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-01-22T05:16:23.157

Modified: 2026-01-22T05:16:23.157

Link: CVE-2026-24049

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.