# CVE-2015-1038: Path traversal in n/a

> Remote attackers can write to arbitrary files via symlink attacks in archives, requiring user interaction to open the malicious file.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.8 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 Jan 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-1038, DLA-245-1, DSA-3289-1, GHSA-f24r-hqqw-w96v, MGASA-2015-0252, SUSE-SU-2015:1433-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-1038

## What is CVE-2015-1038?

CVE-2015-1038 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 21 Jan 2015. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

p7zip 9.20.1 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack in an archive.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-1038?

It affects 3 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `p7zip` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 | All versions | 9.20.1-3.2 |
| `p7zip` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 | All versions | 9.20.1-3.2 |
| `p7zip` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 | All versions | 9.20.1-3.2 |

Products: 7-Zip P7zip, Fedoraproject Fedora, Oracle Solaris.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-1038?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-1038 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-1038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2026-111497](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-111497/): Google Brotli Unchecked Return Value (critical 9.2, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-47069](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-47069/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2016-9296](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9296/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-1038 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-1038 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 21 Jan 2015. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-1038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1038/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1038/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-1038
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-1038
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-1038

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1038/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.