# CVE-2026-29190: Karapace: Path Traversal in Backup Reader

> Attackers can read arbitrary files on the server by providing a malicious backup file to Karapace deployments using backup/restore features.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 9 Mar 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rw4j-p3jg-4fxq

## What is CVE-2026-29190?

CVE-2026-29190 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Aiven-Open karapace, published on 7 Mar 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Karapace is an open-source implementation of Kafka REST and Schema Registry. Prior to version 6.0.0, there is a Path Traversal vulnerability in the backup reader (backup/backends/v3/backend.py). If a malicious backup file is provided to Karapace, an attacker may exploit insufficient path validation to perform arbitrary file read on the system where Karapace is running. The issue affects deployments that use the backup/restore functionality and process backups from untrusted sources. The impact depends on the file system permissions of the Karapace process. This issue has been patched in version 6.0.0.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-29190?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Aiven Karapace.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-29190?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-29190 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-29190 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-29190 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-29190 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-29190 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Aiven-Open karapace, published on 7 Mar 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-29190 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Aiven-Open karapace. 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-2026-29190/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-29190/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-29190
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-29190
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-29190

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-29190/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.