Medium severity · published Sep 14, 2026
CVE-2026-89021
MikroTik RouterOS Path Traversal via Container OCI/tar Image Extraction
6.9
CVSS
0.4%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
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.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:L
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
Required
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
Low
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.4% · higher than 32% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
RO
RouterOS · MikroTik
before 7.24.2 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89021
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-89021
patch
https://forum.mikrotik.com/t/7-24-2-stable-is-released/272800
third-party-advisory
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/mikrotik-routeros-path-traversal-via-container-oci-tar-image-extraction
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