CVE-2026-33929
Published:April 14, 2026
Updated:April 23, 2026
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in Apache PDFBox Examples.
This issue affects the
ExtractEmbeddedFiles example in Apache PDFBox: from 2.0.24 through 2.0.36, from 3.0.0 through 3.0.7.
Users are recommended to update to version 2.0.37 or 3.0.8 once
available. Until then, they should apply the fix provided in GitHub PR
427.
The ExtractEmbeddedFiles example contained a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) mentioned in CVE-2026-23907. However the change in the releases 2.0.36 and 3.0.7 is flawed because it doesn't consider the file path separator. Because of that, a user having writing rights on /home/ABC could be victim to a malicious PDF resulting in a write attempt to any path starting with /home/ABC, e.g. "/home/ABCDEF".
Users who have copied this example into their production code should apply the mentioned change. The example
has been changed accordingly and is available in the project repository.
Affected Packages
org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox (JAVA):
Affected version(s) >=3.0.0 <3.0.8Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 3.0.8org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox (JAVA):
Affected version(s) >=2.0.24 <2.0.37Fix Suggestion:
Update to version 2.0.37Related Resources (5)
Do you need more information?
Contact UsCVSS v4
Base Score:
5.3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
NONE
Vulnerable System Integrity
LOW
Vulnerable System Availability
NONE
Subsequent System Confidentiality
NONE
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
4.3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Weakness Type (CWE)
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
EPSS
Base Score:
0.04