CVE-2026-104103: CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') in ludwig-ai ludwig

Ludwig versions before 0.17.8 contain a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) in the extract_archive() function of ludwig.datasets.archives. While tar member names were validated before extraction, symlink and hard-link members were not properly checked, enabling an attacker to craft an archive that creates links escaping the extraction directory. This allows writing attacker-controlled content to arbitrary filesystem paths with the privileges of the extracting process. The vulnerability affects Python 3.12 and 3.13 runtimes because the containment check used os.path.commonprefix, which can be bypassed by sibling paths sharing character prefixes. Python 3.14 mitigates this by rejecting escaping links by default. The vulnerability is resolved in ludwig version 0.17.8.

An attacker who can supply a crafted archive to the dataset-loading path can cause arbitrary files to be written outside the intended extraction directory, potentially overwriting critical files or injecting malicious content. This can lead to integrity compromise and denial of service with the privileges of the process performing extraction. Exploitation requires user interaction to process a malicious archive from a controlled or compromised source. There are no known exploits in the wild.

Upgrade ludwig to version 0.17.8 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. Users running on Python 3.14 are not affected due to improved tar extraction filtering. Avoid processing untrusted archives from unverified sources. Patch status is confirmed fixed in version 0.17.8.