CVE-2026-47121

Summary

Sparkle is a software update framework for macOS. Prior to version 2.9.2, Autoupdate/SUBinaryDeltaApply.m enforces relativePath.pathComponents containsObject:@".." and rejects writes whose immediate parent directory IS itself a symbolic link, but does not detect symlinks deeper in the relative path. Autoupdate/SPUSparkleDeltaArchive.m's extractItem: will create symlinks in the destination tree from archive content (no .. check on the symlink target), and a subsequent Extract item targeting <symlink>/foo/bar then escapes the destination tree via fopen(path, "wb") because the kernel resolves the intermediate symlink during the open call. This is a defense-in-depth issue: exploitation requires a maliciously-crafted .delta that passes EdDSA signature verification, i.e. EdDSA private-key compromise. With the AppInstaller running as root for system-domain installs, it gives the holder of a stolen signing key arbitrary file write at root level via the delta-apply path, which is a strictly broader primitive than the "drop-in replacement bundle" install they would otherwise have. Version 2.9.2 contains a patch for the issue.

Affected Software

Weaknesses

• CWE-22: CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
• CWE-59: CWE-59: Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')

References

• https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle/security/advisories/GHSA-hg88-v3cw-3qrh
• https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle/commit/fe7b718d0736f3e139e374e26fbca96f29e13bf0

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