Open edX Platform enables the authoring and delivery of online learning at any scale. From Aspen.1 until Ulmo and Verawood.1, openedx/core/lib/extract_archive.py uses _is_bad_path to validate safe_extractall targets by comparing resolved path strings with startswith instead of comparing path components. A course author or staff user with course import permission can submit a crafted .tar.gz archive through the import_olx flow initiated by cms.djangoapps.contentstore.views.import_export.import_handler. An archive member can therefore escape into a sibling course staging directory whose name shares the attacker's base64 directory prefix, causing limited cross-tenant file corruption. Zip archives are not practically affected because ZipFile.extractall strips parent traversal segments, and the advisory does not establish arbitrary filesystem writes, file reads, or direct code execution. This issue is fixed in Ulmo and Verawood.1.
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Fixes

Solution

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Workaround

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History

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 21:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Open edX Platform enables the authoring and delivery of online learning at any scale. From Aspen.1 until Ulmo and Verawood.1, openedx/core/lib/extract_archive.py uses _is_bad_path to validate safe_extractall targets by comparing resolved path strings with startswith instead of comparing path components. A course author or staff user with course import permission can submit a crafted .tar.gz archive through the import_olx flow initiated by cms.djangoapps.contentstore.views.import_export.import_handler. An archive member can therefore escape into a sibling course staging directory whose name shares the attacker's base64 directory prefix, causing limited cross-tenant file corruption. Zip archives are not practically affected because ZipFile.extractall strips parent traversal segments, and the advisory does not establish arbitrary filesystem writes, file reads, or direct code execution. This issue is fixed in Ulmo and Verawood.1.
Title Open edX Platform: Path traversal via prefix-bypass in safe_extractall Path Validation
Weaknesses CWE-22
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N'}


Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-09-18T20:27:44.396Z

Reserved: 2026-09-03T16:37:49.260Z

Link: CVE-2026-85272

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-09-18T21:18:44.793

Modified: 2026-09-18T21:18:44.793

Link: CVE-2026-85272

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-09-19T14:00:15Z

Weaknesses