Malcolm vulnerability

Malcolm is a network traffic analysis tool suite. Prior to version 26.07.0, `safe-extract.py` protects file extraction with libarchive's secure flags, but creates directory entries with a raw `os.makedirs(os.path.join(dest, entry.pathname))` that has no traversal protection. An uploaded malicious archive containing a directory entry with a `../` sequence or an absolute path causes the filebeat processing container to create directories outside the intended extraction directory. Version 26.07.0 fixes the issue.

Published 11 Aug 2026Updated 2 Oct 20265 sources
CVSS 5.3

What happened

Malcolm is a network traffic analysis tool suite. Prior to version 26.07.0, `safe-extract.py` protects file extraction with libarchive's secure flags, but creates directory entries with a raw `os.makedirs(os.path.join(dest, entry.pathname))` that has no traversal protection. An uploaded malicious archive containing a directory entry with a `../` sequence or an absolute path causes the filebeat processing container to create directories outside the intended extraction directory. Version 26.07.0 fixes the issue.

Affected versions

Malcolm: < 26.07.0 Fixed: See vendor advisory.

Why it matters

Review the vendor advisory and exposure of the affected product to determine operational impact.

Detection & mitigation

  • Apply vendor-provided updates or mitigations.
  • Review affected product exposure and access logs.

Public PoC references

No public PoC reference has passed the current publication threshold.