Amazon Linux 2023 : composer (ALAS2023-2026-2152)

critical Nessus Plugin ID 345803

Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux 2023 host is missing a security update.

Description

It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-2152 advisory.

Package bin path can escape the package directory, bypassing the GHSA-gjfg-22fp-rrxx fix. A malicious or compromised Composer package could, when installed as a dependency, cause Composer to change the permissions of a file outside that package's own directory and to register a runnable vendor/bin command that points at that outside file. This is a path traversal and link following issue. It is not remote code execution, the attacker gains no ability to read or receive your data directly. The risk is that a file which was readable only by its owner, but modifiable by Composer, can be made world readable and executable, which is enough to expose its contents on a shared or multi tenant host. The earlier hardening from GHSA-gjfg-22fp-rrxx can be bypassed, since it only rejected literal .. path segments in a package's declared binaries, and was only applied in a single place during dependency resolution. (CVE-2026-59944)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Run 'dnf update composer --releasever 2023.12.20260914' or or 'dnf update --advisory ALAS2023-2026-2152 --releasever 2023.12.20260914' to update your system.

See Also

https://alas.aws.amazon.com//AL2023/ALAS2023-2026-2152.html

https://alas.aws.amazon.com/faqs.html

https://explore.alas.aws.amazon.com/CVE-2026-59944.html

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 345803

File Name: al2023_ALAS2023-2026-2152.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Published: 9/14/2026

Updated: 9/14/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.3

Percentile: 53.45

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.8

Temporal Score: 4.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-59944

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.1

Temporal Score: 7.9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:amazon:linux:2023, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:composer

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AmazonLinux/release, Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 9/14/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/27/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-59944