Syft improper temporary file cleanup

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

5.3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

EPSS

• CVE-2026-33481: 0.42% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 36.70 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Impact Syft versions before v1.42.3 would not properly cleanup temporary storage if the temporary storage was exhausted during a scan. When scanning archives Syft will unpack those archives into temporary storage then inspect the unpacked contents. Under normal operation Syft will remove the temporary data it writes after completing a scan. This vulnerability would affect users of Syft that were scanning content that could cause Syft to fill the temporary storage that would then cause Syft to raise an error and exit. When the error is triggered Syft would exit without properly removing the temporary files in use. In our testing this was most easily reproduced by scanning very large artifacts or highly compressed artifacts such as a zipbomb. Because Syft would not clean up its temporary files, the result would be filling temporary file storage preventing future runs of Syft or other system utilities that rely on temporary storage being available. Patches The patch has been released in…

Published by the source

20 Mar 2026, 20:46 UTC

Last modified by the source

27 Mar 2026, 20:58 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:18 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-rjcw-vg7j-m9rc

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-33481

Advisory: Syft improper temporary file cleanup
IDs: CVE-2026-33481, GHSA-rjcw-vg7j-m9rc
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-33481 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:18 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.3)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/anchore/syft 1.42.3. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/anchore/syft: affected < 1.42.3; fixed in 1.42.3

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/anchore/syft: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/anchore/syft.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rjcw-vg7j-m9rc (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-rjcw-vg7j-m9rc lists affected ranges: Go github.com/anchore/syft >=0 <1.42.3)

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