# CVE-2023-7216: Cpio: extraction allows symlinks which enables remote command execution

Status: published. Published: 2024-02-05. Updated: 2026-11-06.

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.

## Remediation

- workaround: Use the --no-absolute-filenames option to avoid this behaviour. (source: CNA: redhat)

## Affected products and versions

- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (cpio): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (cpio): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (cpio): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (cpio): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 5.3 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L; source: CNA: redhat

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.90% as of 2026-11-05; percentile 59.77%

- SSVC: exploitation poc; automatable no; technical impact total; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: CWE-59

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-7216 (CNA: redhat; vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT)

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2249901 (CNA: redhat; issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT)

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-7216 (ADP: CVE; vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred)

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2249901 (ADP: CVE; issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT, x_transferred)

## Provenance

- CNA: redhat: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-7216; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated 2026-11-06

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2023-7216; retrieved 2026-11-06; source updated Not reported

Revision: 4e6591d9a3de339042d8826c0f109958ecdc024695f7069ebc69e78def4c1182

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2023-7216

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