VulnerabilityPublished 26 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-33481: anchore syft · Improper Cleanup on Thrown Exception

Affects anchore syftSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium : upgrade to 1.42.3 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 36% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.42.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 26 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 29 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade syft and anchore/syft to 1.42.3.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
anchoresyft	Affected <1.42.3	Fixed in 1.42.3
GitHubanchore/syft`pkg:github/anchore/syft`Other threats	Affected <1.42.3	Fixed in 1.42.3

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

A patch fixing this vulnerability is available in Anchore Syft version 1.42.3. Users should upgrade to this version to ensure proper cleanup of temporary files on error conditions. There are no workarounds. If temporary storage is depleted due to this issue, manual removal of leftover temporary files is required to restore functionality.

Description

CVE-2026-33481 is a medium severity vulnerability in Anchore Syft versions prior to 1.42.3 where temporary files are not properly cleaned up if an error occurs due to exhausted temporary storage during scanning. This can happen when scanning very large or highly compressed artifacts, causing Syft to exit without removing temporary files, which may fill the temporary storage and prevent future scans or other system utilities from functioning properly. The issue is fixed in Syft version 1.42.3, which ensures cleanup of temporary files even on error. No workarounds exist, but manual removal of leftover temporary files can restore storage availability.

Impact

The vulnerability results in denial of service conditions related to temporary storage exhaustion. While it does not affect confidentiality or integrity, it impacts availability by preventing Syft and potentially other system utilities from functioning due to lack of available temporary storage. There are no known exploits in the wild. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.3 (medium severity), reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges or user interaction required, and impact limited to availability.

Summary

Anchore Syft before version 1.42.3 improperly handles cleanup of temporary storage when an exception is thrown due to temporary storage exhaustion during scanning of container images or filesystems. Specifically, when scanning archives, Syft unpacks them into temporary storage and inspects the contents. If the temporary storage is exhausted, Syft raises an error and exits without deleting the temporary files it created. This leads to accumulation of temporary files, potentially filling the storage and blocking subsequent Syft runs or other system processes relying on temporary storage. The vulnerability is tracked as CWE-460 (Improper Cleanup on Thrown Exception). The issue is resolved in version 1.42.3, where Syft now ensures cleanup of temporary files even when errors occur.

CWE-460Improper Cleanup on Thrown Exception (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product does not clean up its state or incorrectly cleans up its state when an exception is thrown.
Implementation
If one breaks from a loop or function by throwing an exception, make sure that cleanup happens or that you should exit the program. Use throwing exceptions sparsely.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Apr 2026, 13:39 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-460

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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