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sigstore legacy TUF client allows for arbitrary file writes with target cache path traversal

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jan 22, 2026 in sigstore/sigstore • Updated Jan 23, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/sigstore/sigstore (Go)

Affected versions

<= 1.10.3

Patched versions

1.10.4

Description

Summary

The legacy TUF client pkg/tuf/client.go, which supports caching target files to disk, constructs a filesystem path by joining a cache base directory with a target name sourced from signed target metadata, but it does not validate that the resulting path stays within the cache base directory.

Note that this should only affect clients that are directly using the TUF client in sigstore/sigstore or are using an older version of Cosign. As this TUF client implementation is deprecated, users should migrate to https://github.com/sigstore/sigstore-go/tree/main/pkg/tuf as soon as possible.

Note that this does not affect users of the public Sigstore deployment, where TUF metadata is validated by a quorum of trusted collaborators.

Impact

A malicious TUF repository can trigger arbitrary file overwriting, limited to the permissions that the calling process has.

Workarounds

Users can disable disk caching for the legacy client by setting SIGSTORE_NO_CACHE=true in the environment, migrate to https://github.com/sigstore/sigstore-go/tree/main/pkg/tuf, or upgrade to the latest sigstore/sigstore release.

References

@Hayden-IO Hayden-IO published to sigstore/sigstore Jan 22, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jan 22, 2026
Reviewed Jan 22, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jan 23, 2026
Last updated Jan 23, 2026

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(2nd percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-24137

GHSA ID

GHSA-fcv2-xgw5-pqxf

Source code

Credits

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