GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3

When the crawler saves a downloaded file, the destination filename was taken from attacker-influenced input and joined to the downloads directory with no confinement. A filename containing an absolute path (e.g. /etc/cron.d/evil) or ../ traversal escaped the downloads directory, giving an arbitrary file write with attacker-controlled contents. Because the written bytes are attacker-controlled, this escalates to remote code execution (overwriting a shell rc-file, ~/.ssh/authorized_keys, a cron entry, or a Python module on the import path).

Affected paths

Two download sinks in crawl4ai/async_crawler_strategy.py:

• HTTP crawler (AsyncHTTPCrawlerStrategy): the filename is parsed from the response Content-Disposition header by _extract_filename() and written via aiofiles.open(filepath, 'wb'). Reachable directly via the SDK, and via the unauthenticated Docker /crawl endpoint when an HTTPCrawlerConfig is supplied.
• Browser crawler (AsyncPlaywrightCrawlerStrategy): the download's suggested_filename (controllable by the visited page) is joined to downloads_path and written via download.save_as().

The HTTP-strategy sink is reachable pre-auth on the default Docker deployment; both are reachable for SDK users simply by crawling an attacker-controlled URL. The default Playwright crawl path that does not trigger a download is unaffected.

Workarounds

• Upgrade to the patched version (0.9.0).
• Run the crawler as an unprivileged user with a dedicated, isolated downloads directory on a volume with no sensitive paths writable.
• Enable authentication (CRAWL4AI_API_TOKEN) on the Docker server.

Credits

Y4tacker - reported the Content-Disposition path traversal in the HTTP crawler with a clear PoC and a basename + realpath-containment fix recommendation.

Arbitrary file write with attacker-controlled content as the user running the crawler, escalating to remote code execution.

Input manipulates file paths to reach files outside the intended directory, such as configuration or credential files. Typical impact: unauthorized file read or write outside the intended directory.

GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3 has a CVSS score of 9.6 (Critical). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (0.9.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

Both sinks now resolve the destination through a single hardened helper (_safe_download_filepath) that reduces the attacker-influenced name to a bare basename (dropping absolute paths and .. components) and re-checks, via realpath, that the resolved path stays inside the downloads root (defeating symlink/TOCTOU escapes). A traversal attempt is rejected; normal downloads are unchanged.

1. What is GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3? GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3 is a critical-severity path traversal vulnerability in crawl4ai (pip), affecting versions <= 0.8.9. It is fixed in 0.9.0. Input manipulates file paths to reach files outside the intended directory, such as configuration or credential files.
2. How severe is GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3? GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3 has a CVSS score of 9.6 (Critical). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of crawl4ai are affected by GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3? crawl4ai (pip) versions <= 0.8.9 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3? Yes. GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3 is fixed in 0.9.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix GHSA-2JQ4-Q6VV-4CP3? Upgrade crawl4ai to 0.9.0 or later.