# CVE-2026-64824: Home Assistant Core path traversal in backup-restore function

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-64824-home-assistant-core-path-traversal-in-backup-restore-function  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-07-21. Updated: 2026-07-21  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-64824 · Severity: high · CVSS 8.4 · Published 2026-07-21

Home Assistant Core, a popular open-source home automation platform, is vulnerable to a security flaw in its backup and restore feature. An attacker with administrative access could upload a specially crafted backup file to gain full control over the underlying system. This could lead to the theft of sensitive data, disruption of home automation services, or the installation of malicious software.

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-64824 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-64824 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-64824?** High severity, with a CVSS score of 8.4, published 21 July 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Home Assistant Home Assistant Core before 2026.6.0.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-64824?** A patch was published on 2026-05-26: Pull request to harden tar extraction merged Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-64824 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a network appliance.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-64824?** Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

A path traversal vulnerability exists in the backup-restore function of Home Assistant Core due to improper validation of symlinks within tar archives. An attacker with high privileges can provide a crafted tar archive containing a SYMTYPE entry with an absolute linkname pointing outside the extraction directory. Because the official Docker image runs as root, subsequent file entries written through these unvalidated symlinks allow the attacker to overwrite critical system files. This can be leveraged for remote code execution by overwriting Python paths like site-packages/sitecustomize.py. The issue was fixed in version 2026.6.0 by implementing Python's built-in tarfile 'tar' filter to validate link targets.

## Affected products

- Home Assistant Home Assistant Core before 2026.6.0

## Timeline

- 2026-05-26: patched: Pull request to harden tar extraction merged
- 2026-06-03: advisory: Release 2026.6.0 published
- 2026-07-21: disclosed: CVE published to NVD

## References

- [https://github.com/home-assistant/core/commit/1e457600f1093c15e1325742d03e2b76498c79c1](https://github.com/home-assistant/core/commit/1e457600f1093c15e1325742d03e2b76498c79c1)
- [https://github.com/home-assistant/core/pull/172252](https://github.com/home-assistant/core/pull/172252)
- [https://github.com/home-assistant/core/releases/tag/2026.6.0](https://github.com/home-assistant/core/releases/tag/2026.6.0)
- [https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/home-assistant-core-symlink-path-traversal-rce-via-backup-restore](https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/home-assistant-core-symlink-path-traversal-rce-via-backup-restore)