CVE-2026-40090

CVE-2026-40090 is a high-severity vulnerability in Lfprojects Zarf with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.1. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-22.

Key facts

Description

Zarf is an Airgap Native Packager Manager for Kubernetes. Versions 0.23.0 through 0.74.1 contain an arbitrary file write vulnerability in the zarf package inspect sbom and zarf package inspect documentation subcommands. These subcommands output file paths are constructed by joining a user-controlled output directory with the package's Metadata.Name field read directly from the untrusted package's zarf.yaml manifest. Although Metadata.Name is validated against a regex on package creation, an attacker can unarchive a package to modify the Metadata.Name field to contain path traversal sequences such as ../../etc/cron.d/malicious or absolute paths like /home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys, along with the corresponding files inside SBOMS.tar. This allows writing attacker-controlled content to arbitrary filesystem locations within the permissions of the user running the inspect command. This issue has been fixed in version 0.74.2.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-40090?
Zarf is an Airgap Native Packager Manager for Kubernetes. Versions 0.23.0 through 0.74.1 contain an arbitrary file write vulnerability in the zarf package inspect sbom and zarf package inspect documentation subcommands. These subcommands output file paths are constructed by joining a user-controlled output directory with the package's Metadata.Name field read directly from the untrusted package's zarf.yaml manifest. Although Metadata.Name is validated against a regex on package creation, an attacker can unarchive a package to modify the Metadata.Name field to contain path traversal sequences such as ../../etc/cron.d/malicious or absolute paths like /home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys, along with the corresponding files inside SBOMS.tar. This allows writing attacker-controlled content to arbitrary filesystem locations within the permissions of the user running the inspect command. This issue has been fixed in version 0.74.2.
How severe is CVE-2026-40090?
CVE-2026-40090 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.1, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity high, and availability low.
Is CVE-2026-40090 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (31st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2026-40090?
CVE-2026-40090 affects Lfprojects Zarf. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2026-40090?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
Does CVE-2026-40090 have an EU (EUVD) identifier?
Yes. CVE-2026-40090 is tracked in the ENISA EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD) as EUVD-2026-22814.
When was CVE-2026-40090 published?
CVE-2026-40090 was published on 2026-04-15 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

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