Description

compliance-trestle is a tooling platform for managing compliance as code. Prior to versions 3.12.2 and 4.0.3, the `-o/--output` argument in `trestle author jinja` allows writing files outside the intended workspace. The application does not properly validate, `../`, `..\`, or absolute paths. This allows arbitrary file write to attacker-controlled locations. Versions 3.12.3 and 4.0.3 patch the issue.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "8.4",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-17T18:16:38.393Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-17T18:16:38.393Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Compliance Trestle contains an arbitrary file write vulnerability within the `trestle author jinja` command via the `-o/--output` argument. This security flaw stems from a failure to properly sanitize path traversal sequences such as `../`, `..\\`, or absolute paths provided by the user. Consequently, an attacker can leverage this vulnerability to write arbitrary files outside the designated workspace directory. The impact of successful exploitation includes the potential overwriting of critical system files, modification of application binaries, or placement of malicious artifacts within sensitive filesystem locations, depending on the privileges of the executing process. This vulnerability affects compliance-trestle prior to versions 3.12.2 and 4.0.3. Exploitation requires an attacker to interact with the command-line interface and supply a specially crafted output path argument. Risk implications include complete integrity compromise of the host environment where the affected tooling is executed.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides in the path handling logic of the `-o/--output` parameter implemented within the `trestle author jinja` subcommand of compliance-trestle. The root cause of the issue is insufficient input validation and sanitization regarding user-supplied file paths. Specifically, the application fails to restrict output operations to the intended workspace boundary, neglecting to adequately filter or neutralize relative path traversal sequences (such as `../` and `..\\`) as well as fully qualified absolute paths.\nThe exploitation method relies on supplying a malicious path argument to the vulnerable `-o/--output` flag during the execution of the Jinja authoring command. The attack flow proceeds as follows: 1) The user or automated process invokes `trestle author jinja`. 2) The attacker passes a crafted payload containing directory traversal sequences or absolute paths to the output argument. 3) The application processes the Jinja template generation and attempts to persist the rendered output to the specified target path without verifying whether the resolved destination resides safely within the authorized workspace. 4) The operating system writes the file to the attacker-controlled location, restricted only by the permissions of the user running the compliance-trestle process.\nThe vulnerable component is the file writing routine associated with the `trestle author jinja` command. Affected versions include all releases prior to 3.12.2 and versions between 4.0.0 and 4.0.3. The vulnerability requires local or command-line interaction capabilities where the attacker can control or influence the arguments passed to the trestle executable. No specific network exposure is inherently required unless the command execution is exposed via an insecure remote wrapper or API. Post-exploitation impact encompasses arbitrary file creation and overwriting, which can facilitate privilege escalation, configuration tampering, or denial of service by corrupting essential system or application dependencies."
}