CVE-2026-44029 Path traversal in Nix
Attackers can write to arbitrary files via directory traversal in Nix prefetch commands, potentially compromising system integrity.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-44029?
CVE-2026-44029 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in NixOS Nix, published on 5 May 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
An issue was discovered in Nix before 2.34.7. Writing to arbitrary files can occur via "nix-prefetch-url --unpack" or "nix store prefetch-file --unpack" directory traversal. The fixed versions are 2.34.7, 2.33.6, 2.32.8, 2.31.5, 2.30.5, 2.29.4, and 2.28.7 (introduced in 2.24.7);
Weakness: CWE-36
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-44029?
How do I fix CVE-2026-44029?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-44029 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-44029 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-44029, GHSA-54vc-ph3h-x39x, GHSA-gr92-w2r5-qw5p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-44029.