Path Traversal in Amazon Amazon-Ssm-Agent

CVE-2026-81849

Improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory in the aws:downloadContent plugin in amazon-ssm-agent before 3.3.4515.0 might allow an authenticated remote user whose ssm:SendCommand permission is restricted to the AWS-DownloadContent document, to write arbitrary files outside the intended download directory with root privileges, via crafted object keys in the S3 source the document is directed to retrieve. This issue may lead to arbitrary code execution as root if specific sensitive files are overwritten. To remediate this issue, customers should upgrade amazon-ssm-agent to version 3.3.4515.0 or later.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.009 (58.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 59th percentile — 58.5% 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-2026-81849: held from 0.006 to 0.009.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.006 · newest: 0.009 · change: +0.003

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-81849?
CVE-2026-81849 is a high-severity vulnerability in Amazon Amazon-Ssm-Agent, classified under Relative Path Traversal. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2026-08-28.
How severe is CVE-2026-81849?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.