# CVE-2026-33481: Syft improper temporary file cleanup > Attackers can exhaust temporary storage by triggering errors during scans, causing denial of service for Syft and other system utilities. - **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Not needed - **Attackable:** Over the internet - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 26 Mar 2026 - **Updated:** 27 Mar 2026 - **Also known as:** CLEANSTART-2026-JS89270, CLEANSTART-2026-NN19549, GHSA-rjcw-vg7j-m9rc, GO-2026-4809, MINI-2p68-vhm4-8pcg, MINI-3739-9c44-g5c2, MINI-3qmg-w66p-g8qr, MINI-3x4v-r4g9-m3f8, MINI-5f97-qvf4-xv94, MINI-64m2-5wjr-q779, MINI-767r-9mhj-hrpp, MINI-8f5f-jx58-j29r, MINI-9wp6-8w8c-g77v, MINI-c23v-f8w2-p49x, MINI-ccjv-rj5r-cw5p, MINI-fpg6-xqf7-j5c8, MINI-fq58-wf23-cvfh, MINI-fqjm-386x-fvpv, MINI-fqv6-2p82-qg4g, MINI-fw9g-9cpv-2mcc, MINI-g7c9-2h42-264g, MINI-hpf6-8ghj-m8vr, MINI-hxpg-m58r-j5ph, MINI-j2fx-5qrf-f57c, MINI-jfrc-p4v7-wcj7, MINI-jgc7-g4r7-jj3h, MINI-jmw3-6jww-ccq4, MINI-m8ch-pmq9-m9fm, MINI-mjqh-vpg8-3294, MINI-mx3c-4q5r-vc7g, MINI-p8fx-h2f4-gr4v, MINI-q6c7-88p6-5v5v, MINI-rf79-32q7-5fcv, MINI-v86w-7676-c3x9, MINI-v98f-7pwv-44pj, MINI-vh94-4m85-xpxr, MINI-vxq3-f99x-f6mm, MINI-wvjj-5248-r78r, MINI-xmj7-3q9m-r4wr ## What is CVE-2026-33481? CVE-2026-33481 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in anchore syft, published on 26 Mar 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim. ### Official description Syft is a a CLI tool and Go library for generating a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) from container images and filesystems. Syft versions before v1.42.3 would not properly cleanup temporary storage if the temporary storage was exhausted during a scan. When scanning archives Syft will unpack those archives into temporary storage then inspect the unpacked contents. Under normal operation Syft will remove the temporary data it writes after completing a scan. This vulnerability would affect users of Syft that were scanning content that could cause Syft to fill the temporary storage that would then cause Syft to raise an error and exit. When the error is triggered Syft would exit without properly removing the temporary files in use. In our testing this was most easily reproduced by scanning very large artifacts or highly compressed artifacts such as a zipbomb. Because Syft would not clean up its temporary files, the result would be filling temporary file storage preventing future runs of Syft or other system utilities that rely on temporary storage being available. The patch has been released in v1.42.3. Syft now cleans up temporary files when an error condition is encountered. There are no workarounds for this vulnerability in Syft. Users that find their temporary storage depleted can manually remove the temporary files. Weakness: CWE-460 (Improper Cleanup on Thrown Exception) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-33481? 3 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/anchore/syft. It affects 1 product. | Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `github.com/anchore/syft` | Go | All versions | 1.42.3 | | `github.com/anchore/syft` | Go | All versions | 1.42.3 | | `github.com/anchore/syft` | Go | All versions | 1.42.3 | Products: Anchore Syft. ## How do I fix CVE-2026-33481? Upgrade github.com/anchore/syft to 1.42.3 or later. ## Is CVE-2026-33481 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-33481 in the wild and no public exploit code. ## Other vulnerabilities in anchore syft - [CVE-2023-24827](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-24827/): Credential disclosure in syft when SYFT_ATTEST_PASSWORD environment variable set in syft (medium 6.5) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2026-33481 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2026-33481 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in anchore syft, published on 26 Mar 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-33481 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected packages and fixed versions: - github.com/anchore/syft (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 1.42.3 - github.com/anchore/syft (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 1.42.3 - github.com/anchore/syft (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 1.42.3 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-2026-33481/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33481/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-33481 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33481 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-33481 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-33481/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.