---
id: CVE-2023-7216
title: 'Cpio: extraction allows symlinks which enables remote command execution'
summary: >-
  A path traversal vulnerability was found in the CPIO utility. This issue could
  allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to trick a user into opening a
  specially crafted archive. During the extraction process, the archiver could
  follow sym…
severity: medium
cvss: 5.3
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-59
vendor: Red Hat
product: cpio
affected:
  - cpio
  - cpio (all versions)
  - cpio (all versions)
  - cpio (all versions)
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2024-02-07T15:43:39.938371Z'
exploitAvailable: true
published: '2024-02-05'
updated: '2026-11-06'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-06T13:40:41.281Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-7216'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-7216'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2249901'
    label: RHBZ#2249901
tags:
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
epss: 0.00899
epssPercentile: 0.5985
ingestedAt: '2026-11-06T13:52:17.100Z'
---

## Overview

A path traversal vulnerability was found in the CPIO utility. This issue could allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to trick a user into opening a specially crafted archive. During the extraction process, the archiver could follow symlinks outside of the intended directory, which allows files to be written in arbitrary directories through symlinks.

## Affected

- `cpio`
- `cpio (all versions)`
- `cpio (all versions)`
- `cpio (all versions)`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

### Workarounds

Use the --no-absolute-filenames option to avoid this behaviour.