---
title: "CVE-2026-46703: Boxlite: Path Traversal Vulnerability Leads to Arbitrary File Write on the Host"
url: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-46703/
description: "CVE-2026-46703 (boxlite (PyPI)): Boxlite is a sandbox service that allows users to create lightweight virtual machines (Boxes) and launch OCI containers…"
type: vulnerability-record
section: "Security Digest"
date_published: 2026-06-10
date_modified: 2026-06-23
publisher: erroneo.us
author: erroneo.us Security Desk
cve: "CVE-2026-46703"
kev: false
cvss: 9.6
epss: 0.00777
license: All rights reserved. Quote with attribution and a link.
---

# CVE-2026-46703: Boxlite: Path Traversal Vulnerability Leads to Arbitrary File Write on the Host

**Signal:** Critical and remotely reachable. No known exploitation yet, but it is network-reachable without credentials. (Computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS; not an editorial verdict.)

## Should you act?

- Not in CISA KEV , but CISA’s SSVC assessment records a public proof-of-concept, so attack code exists.
- EPSS 0.8% , percentile 55: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.8% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 55% of all scored CVEs (moderate). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
- Needs a user to click or open something. Phishing makes that realistic, but it is not wormable.
- Only applies if your dependency tree includes boxlite (PyPI) < 0.9.0, fixed in 0.9.0 ; boxlite-cli (crates.io (Rust)) < 0.9.0, fixed in 0.9.0 ; boxlite (crates.io (Rust)) < 0.9.0, fixed in 0.9.0 ; @boxlite-ai/boxlite (npm) < 0.9.0, fixed in 0.9.0 . Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

## What it is

Boxlite is a sandbox service that allows users to create lightweight virtual machines (Boxes) and launch OCI containers within them to run untrusted code. Prior to version 0.9.0, Boxlite allows users to specify the OCI image used by containers in the sandbox. However, when processing tar entries in OCI images, Boxlite does not account for the possibility that entries may be symlinks pointing to absolute paths. An attacker can craft a malicious OCI image and distribute it on image hosting platforms such as DockerHub, tricking users into using it. Once a user loads the malicious image, the attacker can write arbitrary content to any path on the host, which can further lead to remote code execution on the host. This issue has been patched in version 0.9.0.

## Affected packages

- PyPI `boxlite` < 0.9.0 → fixed: 0.9.0
- crates.io (Rust) `boxlite-cli` < 0.9.0 → fixed: 0.9.0
- crates.io (Rust) `boxlite` < 0.9.0 → fixed: 0.9.0
- npm `@boxlite-ai/boxlite` < 0.9.0 → fixed: 0.9.0
- Go `github.com/boxlite-ai/boxlite/sdks/go` < 0.9.0 → fixed: 0.9.0

## Affected products (CVE record)

- boxlite-ai boxlite: < 0.9.0

## Severity

- GitHub_M CVSS 3.1: 9.6 `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`
- GitHub CVSS 3.1: 9.6 `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`

## Exploitation

- CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
- CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation poc , automatable no , technical impact total .
- FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.78% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 55.

## Sources

- [GitHub Advisory GHSA-f396-4rp4-7v2j](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f396-4rp4-7v2j)
- [CVE.org record CVE-2026-46703](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46703)
- [NVD entry CVE-2026-46703](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46703)
- [github.com](https://github.com/boxlite-ai/boxlite/security/advisories/GHSA-f396-4rp4-7v2j)
- [github.com](https://github.com/boxlite-ai/boxlite/releases/tag/v0.9.0)
- [rustsec.org](https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2026-0148.html)

---
Source page: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-46703/ · Security Digest: https://erroneo.us/security/ · More: https://erroneo.us/llms.txt