Path Traversal in Apache Pdfbox

CVE-2026-23907

This issue affects the ExtractEmbeddedFiles example in Apache PDFBox: from 2.0.24 through 2.0.35, from 3.0.0 through 3.0.6. The ExtractEmbeddedFiles example contains a path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) because the filename that is obtained from PDComplexFileSpecification.getFilename() is appended to the extraction path. Users who have copied this example into their production code should review it to ensure that the extraction path is acceptable. The example has been changed accordingly, now the initial path and the extraction paths are converted into canonical paths and it is verified that extraction path contains the initial path. The documentation has also been adjusted.

Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.009 (59.7th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 60th percentile — 59.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-23907: held from 0.009 to 0.009.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.009 · newest: 0.009 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-23907?
CVE-2026-23907 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apache Pdfbox, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 5.3/10. Published 2026-03-10.
How severe is CVE-2026-23907?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.3 out of 10.
Is CVE-2026-23907 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.