CVE-2026-87690

8.8 HIGHpublic exploit available

Published 2026-10-12 · Updated 2026-10-16

AI risk analysis

Summary: A relative path traversal vulnerability in Metasploit's iOS image gather module allows attackers to overwrite critical system files, including the msfconsole resource file that executes automatically on startup, enabling persistent code execution and privilege escalation.
Exploitability: Exploitation requires luring an operator into running the affected module against a compromised iOS device, which is moderately difficult but achievable through social engineering or compromised devices in the target environment.
Blast radius: The impact could be severe as attackers can achieve persistent code execution and interactive shell access as the operator (often root) on the pentester's workstation at next console launch.
Detection: No reliable host or network indicator is derivable from the published description.
Prioritized remediation: Upgrade to Metasploit Framework version 6.3.17 or later, which includes the fix for this relative path traversal vulnerability in the ios_image_gather module.

rcefile-writemetasploitprivilege-escalation

Analysis generated locally by garnet-coder (no data left the box). AI-assisted — verify against primary sources before acting.

NVD description

The Metasploit Framework post module post/apple_ios/gather/ios_image_gather is affected by a relative path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22). The module interpolates file names taken from a Meterpreter directory listing — data fully controlled by a hostile or tampered iOS device — directly into the local destination path passed to client.fs.file.download_file(), with no sanitization. The underlying stdapi sink (lib/rex/post/meterpreter/extensions/stdapi/fs/file.rb) writes to whatever path is supplied, so a listing entry such as ../../msfconsole.rc escapes the intended ~/.msf4/loot/<random> directory and overwrites ~/.msf4/msfconsole.rc, a resource file that every msfconsole invocation automatically executes at startup (lib/msf/ui/console/driver.rb:196). An attacker-controlled device that lures an operator into running this gather module achieves an arbitrary file write as the operator; because the written msfconsole.rc can load a second written file (a Ruby plugin whose top-level code runs on require), this converts into persistent code execution and an interactive shell as the operator (frequently root) on the pentester's workstation at the next console launch. The same traversal was previously fixed upstream in the recursive downloader (stdapi/fs/dir.rb scrubs separators); this module omitted the equivalent scrub. The fix applies the same separator scrub (or File.basename) to listing entries before building the local path.

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weaknesses

CWE-22

Public exploit & PoC references

All references

Source data: NVD (nvd.nist.gov), public domain. Exploit-DB.ai adds local AI analysis for defensive use only.

Related CVEs

Related by shared AI tags and CWE weakness class. Browse the full archive.