VulnerabilityModified

CVE-2026-24049

In versions 0.40.0 through 0.46.1, the unpack function is vulnerable to file permission modification through mishandling of file permissions after extraction.

MEDIUM 5.5EPSS 0.32%

Does this matter?

Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.32%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.

Description

wheel is a command line tool for manipulating Python wheel files, as defined in PEP 427. In versions 0.40.0 through 0.46.1, the unpack function is vulnerable to file permission modification through mishandling of file permissions after extraction. The logic blindly trusts the filename from the archive header for the chmod operation, even though the extraction process itself might have sanitized the path. Attackers can craft a malicious wheel file that, when unpacked, changes the permissions of critical system files (e.g., /etc/passwd, SSH keys, config files), allowing for Privilege Escalation or arbitrary code execution by modifying now-writable scripts. This issue has been fixed in version 0.46.2.

CVSS 3.1: 5.5 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS: 0.32% probability · 25th percentile
CISA KEV: Not listed
Weakness: CWE-22, CWE-732
Affected: wheel project/wheel
Source: security-advisories@github.com

References

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.