---
id: "CVE-2026-79985"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2026-79985"]
title: "Apache Camel SMB: path traversal lets consumers read or delete files outside polled directory"
severity: "high"
cvss: 7.4
epss: null
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "package"
products: []
ecosystems: []
tags: ["apache-camel", "java", "package", "self-hosted", "smb"]
not_affected_if: ["fixed-version", "not-using-smb-component"]
published_at: "2026-10-19T11:17:20+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-23T21:57:17+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-25T03:27:16+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-79985", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-23T21:57:17+00:00"}]
---

# Apache Camel SMB: path traversal lets consumers read or delete files outside polled directory

The Apache Camel SMB component builds remote file paths from server-supplied directory listing names without checking they stay inside the polled directory. A malicious or on-path server can make Camel read, delete or rename files outside that directory using the endpoint's credentials.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## How to check

- Check the Camel version in your project's dependency tree, e.g. `mvn dependency:tree | grep camel-smb`, and confirm whether it is within 4.2.0 to before 4.18.5, or 4.19.0 to before 4.22.1
- Look for routes using the `smb:` scheme that consume remote directories with `delete=true`, `move`, `preMove`, `moveFailed` or `readLock=rename`

## Fix

- Upgrade Apache Camel to `4.23.0`
- If on the 4.22.x stream, upgrade to `4.22.1`
- If on the 4.18.x LTS stream, upgrade to `4.18.5`
- The 4.14.x stream is end of life and gets no fix; move to a supported stream

## Timeline

- 2026-10-23T21:57:17+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-79985

## From the sources

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in Apache Camel SMB component.



This issue affects Apache Camel: from 4.2.0 before 4.18.5, from 4.19.0 before 4.22.1.



The Camel remote-file consumers poll a directory on a remote server and build the absolute remote path of each file by concatenating the configured directory with the file name reported in the server's directory listing. That concatenation (FtpUtils.absoluteFilePath and GenericFileConsumer) applied no lexical normalization and no check that the result stayed inside the directory being polled, and the resulting path became the operand for every subsequent remote operation on the file: retrieval (FtpOperations.retrieveFile / SftpOperations, reached from GenericFileConsumer where the retrieve name is taken verbatim from GenericFile.getAbsoluteFilePath), deletion when delete=true (GenericFileDeleteProcessStrategy), and renaming when move, preMove, moveFailed or readLock=rename is configured (GenericFileProcessStrategySupport and GenericFileRenameExclusiveReadLockStrategy). Neither isValidFile nor isMatched performed any containment check. A listing entry that is not a single path segment therefore resolved to a path outside the configured polling directory, causing Camel to read, delete or rename files outside it using the endpoint's own credentials. A listing name is not route-controlled data. It is supplied by the remote server, and the FTP control channel carries no integrity protection at all, so an on-path attacker can rewrite a LIST response without holding any credentials; a compromised, malicious or multi-tenant server, or a server backed by a virtual filesystem, can emit such a name directly. Retrieval is reachable in a default consumer configuration, since the remote consumers download every listed file; deletion and renaming additionally require one of the disposition options above, all of which are common. Escape from the directory Camel was configured to poll is unconditional, while escape from the server's own account boundary additionally depends on whether that server confines the account. The jailStartingDirectory option, which is documented as restricting Camel to the starting directory and is enabled by default, governed producer writes and, since the localWorkDirectory containment work, consumer downloads to the local work directory - but it did not constrain this remote operand, so its name and description claimed a boundary that was not enforced here. The same entry point had already been recognised on the local side: the localWorkDirectory download path was constrained so that a remote file name containing parent-directory segments could not resolve outside the local work directory. The remote operand was the remaining half of that surface. This artifact provides the smb scheme. Its consumer walks the share listing on its own rather than through RemoteFileConsumer, skipping only the exact "." and ".." entries, so a name carrying traversal segments in any other form was concatenated unchecked. Reaching it requires a server that emits a listing name which is not a single path segment, which a conforming SMB2 implementation does not do; the exposure was corrected on the same basis as the other remote-file consumers rather than from a demonstrated proof of concept against this scheme.



Upgrade to Apache Camel 4.23.0, which fixes the issue. Users on the 4.22.x releases stream should upgrade to 4.22.1. Users on the 4.18.x LTS releases stream should upgrade to 4.18.5. The 4.14.x stream reached end of life and does not receive this fix; users on it should move to a supported releases stream.

---

_Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai_
