Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Older unzipper versions can let a malicious ZIP archive write files outside the intended extraction folder. Business impact depends on what the application extracts and where. Systems that process user-supplied or partner-supplied archives should treat this as urgent dependency hygiene.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for any internet-facing, customer-facing, or automated workflow that extracts ZIP files. Lower priority is reasonable only where unzipper is unused or archives are fully trusted.
Technical view
CVE-2018-1002203 is a Zip Slip directory traversal flaw in the npm unzipper package before 0.8.13. Archive entry paths were mishandled during extraction, allowing arbitrary file writes outside the destination directory. The CVE maps to CWE-22.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in Node.js applications using unzipper before 0.8.13 to extract ZIP files from users, customers, partners, CI artifacts, or other untrusted sources.
Exploitation context
The bundle does not show KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Exploitation requires the vulnerable library to process a crafted ZIP archive and write extracted entries to disk.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports directory traversal and arbitrary file write in unzipper before 0.8.13. No CVSS vector is provided in the bundle, and KEV is false. Validate exposure through dependency data and actual archive extraction paths.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade unzipper to version 0.8.13 or later.
- Inventory applications and build tooling that extract ZIP archives with unzipper.
- Restrict archive extraction to trusted inputs until upgraded.
- Ensure extraction code rejects paths escaping the intended destination.
- Check vendor and package guidance for any additional remediation notes.
Validation and detection
- Check package manifests and lockfiles for unzipper versions below 0.8.13.
- Confirm runtime deployments match the remediated dependency version.
- Review code paths that extract ZIP archives from untrusted sources.
- Verify extraction controls prevent writes outside the target directory.
- Document affected services, owners, and remediation status.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-22: File access and web shell behavior lookup
File traversal and upload weaknesses can lead teams to review file, web shell, execution, and collection telemetry. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupFile access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references file access or upload behavior, so file telemetry and web shell review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2018-1002203 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://snyk.io/research/zip-slip-vulnerabilityCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/ZJONSSON/node-unzipper/commit/2220ddd5b58f6252069a4f99f9475441ad0b50cdCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://snyk.io/vuln/npm:unzipper:20180415CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/snyk/zip-slip-vulnerabilityCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/ZJONSSON/node-unzipper/pull/59CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.