---
id: CVE-2026-96612
title: >-
  Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
  vulnerability in hexpm hex allows a malicious package publisher to delete a
  directory outside the project's deps directory and extract package files into
  it w…
summary: >-
  Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
  vulnerability in hexpm hex allows a malicious package publisher to delete a
  directory outside the project's deps directory and extract package files into
  it w…
severity: none
cwe:
  - CWE-22
published: '2026-10-12'
updated: '2026-10-12'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-12T16:17:07.637'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96612'
references:
  - url: 'https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-96612.html'
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/hexpm/hex/commit/1b3e2ae8f0dd7273a2c2625b9e50b6c67c8568fb
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/hexpm/hex/commit/380f87054e1bc08ee13d2b5311bc01f98dad2fc6
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/hexpm/hex/commit/72279a8e2004b32b20d8767ff010c117193dd02c
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: 'https://github.com/hexpm/hex/security/advisories/GHSA-2vjj-c5hr-6xc3'
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-96612'
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
tags:
  - nvd
ingestedAt: '2026-10-12T16:57:59.921Z'
---

## Overview

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in hexpm hex allows a malicious package publisher to delete a directory outside the project's deps directory and extract package files into it when a developer fetches dependencies.

A package release's requirements carry an app label that names the dependency's OTP application. Hex takes this label from the repository's signed registry and uses it as the dependency's application name without validating it (Hex.RemoteConverger.deps/2, Hex.Mix.to_lock/1). Mix derives the dependency's checkout directory as deps/<app>, and Hex.SCM.update/1 runs File.rm_rf!/1 on that directory and unpacks the package into it. hex.pm only checks the label's length, so a publisher can set it to a value such as ../../target. When a project depends on such a release directly or transitively, mix deps.get or mix deps.update deletes the directory the label resolves to and writes the labelled package's files there. This happens before any dependency code is compiled.

This issue affects hex: from 0.6.0 before 2.5.2.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.