vulnerability / NVI-00018574 / Revision 1
compliance-trestle Remote Fetching Mechanism has an Arbitrary File Write via Cache Path Traversal
GitHub lists this reviewed advisory for compliance-trestle, compliance-trestle. Published version ranges and source prerequisites are shown below; this is not an inspection of a visitor’s application.
This report has not inspected your inventory, configuration, deployed build, reachability or evidence. A catalog listing and a severity score do not establish exposure or compromise.
01 / Meaning
Why it matters
Published affected context helps an owner decide what evidence to gather. This report has not examined your application.
02 / Applicability
The affected context
Affected versions, configuration prerequisites and known exclusions are public. Confirm each one against the deployed service.
compliance-trestle
source listed>= 4.0.0, <= 4.0.2
## Summary The compliance-trestle library's remote fetching cache mechanism (HTTPSFetcher and SFTPFetcher) constructs the local cache file path from the URL path component without sanitizing path traversal sequences (`../`). When a remote OSCAL profile references a URL with traversal in its path, the HTTP response body is written to a location **outside the intended cache directory**, enabling **arbitrary file write with attacker-controlled content** to the filesystem. **Attack chain:** Malicious OSCAL profile → HTTPS fetch → cache path traversal → arbitrary file write → RCE (via cron, SSH keys, etc.) ## Affected Component **Repository:** https://github.com/IBM/compliance-trestle **File:** `trestle/core/remote/cache.py` (lines 259-266 for HTTPSFetcher, lines 328-333 for SFTPFetcher) **Version:** v4.0.2 (latest as of 2026-04-30) ## Vulnerable Code ### cache.py:259-266 — HTTPSFetcher cache path construction ```python class HTTPSFetcher(FetcherBase): def __init__(self, trestle_root: pathlib.Path, uri: str) -> None: # ... u = parse.urlparse(self._uri) # ... if u.hostname is None: raise TrestleError(f'Cache request for {self._uri} re
compliance-trestle
source listed< 3.12.2
## Summary The compliance-trestle library's remote fetching cache mechanism (HTTPSFetcher and SFTPFetcher) constructs the local cache file path from the URL path component without sanitizing path traversal sequences (`../`). When a remote OSCAL profile references a URL with traversal in its path, the HTTP response body is written to a location **outside the intended cache directory**, enabling **arbitrary file write with attacker-controlled content** to the filesystem. **Attack chain:** Malicious OSCAL profile → HTTPS fetch → cache path traversal → arbitrary file write → RCE (via cron, SSH keys, etc.) ## Affected Component **Repository:** https://github.com/IBM/compliance-trestle **File:** `trestle/core/remote/cache.py` (lines 259-266 for HTTPSFetcher, lines 328-333 for SFTPFetcher) **Version:** v4.0.2 (latest as of 2026-04-30) ## Vulnerable Code ### cache.py:259-266 — HTTPSFetcher cache path construction ```python class HTTPSFetcher(FetcherBase): def __init__(self, trestle_root: pathlib.Path, uri: str) -> None: # ... u = parse.urlparse(self._uri) # ... if u.hostname is None: raise TrestleError(f'Cache request for {self._uri} re
03 / Response
What to do next
- investigate
Identify the exact component and deployed version, examine the linked publisher’s conditions, and retain evidence of any mitigation.
Confirm current vendor support, compatibility and deployment evidence. This report has not tested a fix in your system. GitHub Advisory Database
A fixed release is not deployment evidence.
Check current vendor support and compatibility. After making a change, verify the deployed build and relevant runtime conditions. Keep the evidence, owner and time. An updated lockfile alone does not prove what is running.
04 / Limits
What this report cannot establish
- Customer inventory, deployment, reachability and exploitation have not been inspected.
05 / Provenance
Sources you can inspect
Each assertion retains its source. Mirrored records may repeat one underlying publisher; additional links are not independent corroboration.
- GHSA-g3vg-vx23-3858 ↗
GitHub Advisory Database · vendor advisory
Observed . GitHub Advisory Database; CC-BY-4.0. Each advisory links its original attribution. Null normalizes fields.
Public revision history
Only published revisions appear here. Routine fetches do not create a material-change event.
- Revision 1 ·
First indexed by Null; source disclosure date is shown separately.