Path Traversal in Mikrotik Routeros

CVE-2026-89021

MikroTik RouterOS before 7.24.2 contains a path traversal vulnerability in the container package OCI/tar image extraction that allows attackers to write files outside the container root by supplying a crafted container image with symlinks pointing to arbitrary paths. Attackers can exploit unsanitized tar member path extraction during container import via /container/add to achieve root-privileged file creation, directory creation, file deletion via overlayfs whiteout, and hardlink creation on the persistent data partition without ever starting the container. The 7.23.x long-term branch does not contain this fix; the container binaries in container-7.23.3.npk and container-7.23.4.npk are byte-identical. The vendor has confirmed that the issue is not resolved in the long-term release and that the fix is carried forward only in the stable branch from 7.24.2 onward, with no backport to the long-term branch planned.

Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.9 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:L.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (32.1th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 32nd percentile — 32.1% 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-2026-89021: held from 0.004 to 0.004.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-89021?
CVE-2026-89021 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Mikrotik Routeros, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 6.9/10. Published 2026-09-14.
How severe is CVE-2026-89021?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.9 out of 10.