Executive brief
SoftSea EPUB File Reader is a utility used to open and read digital books in the EPUB format. A security flaw in how the application handles these files allows a malicious actor to create a specially crafted book that, when opened, can write files to sensitive locations on the user's computer. This could lead to the attacker gaining control over the system or executing unauthorized software in the context of the logged-in user.
Technical details
A directory traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) exists in SoftSea EPUB File Reader version 1.0.0.0. The flaw is located within the EPUB archive extraction logic, which fails to properly validate file paths contained within the archive before extracting them to a temporary directory. An attacker can exploit this by tricking a user into opening a malicious EPUB file containing filenames with traversal sequences (e.g., ../). This can result in arbitrary file writes to the filesystem, potentially leading to remote code execution in the context of the current user. A patch was reportedly released by the vendor in September 2025.
Affected products
- SoftSea EPUB File Reader 1.0.0.0
Timeline
- 2025-09-27: other: Vulnerability reported to vendor
- 2025-09-30: patched: Vendor patch release
- 2025-12-01: advisory: Public release of advisory