An authenticated user with edit rights on a Penpot team can send a local file path, such as /etc/passwd, in the create‑font‑variant RPC request. The backend accepts the path without validating it, reads the file, and stores its contents as a font asset that the attacker can later download. This flaw allows the attacker to read any file accessible to the Penpot process, exposing operating system user data, application secrets, database credentials, and private keys, thereby compromising confidentiality. The weakness is a classic example of a file‑path traversal and improper input validation reflected in CWE‑22 and CWE‑73.

The vulnerability affects all Penpot installations running versions earlier than 2.13.2, regardless of deployment type. In non‑containerized setups the full host filesystem is readable; in containerized deployments the attack surface is limited to the container's filesystem, yet configuration files, environment variables, and mounted secrets remain at risk.

The score of 7.5 on the CVSS v3.1 scale denotes a high severity, while the EPSS value of less than 1% indicates that, at the time of analysis, the probability of exploitation in the wild is low. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Explotation requires the attacker to be authenticated to Penpot with a role that includes team edit permissions and to submit a malicious font data string. No additional privileges or vulnerability in other components are required; the attack is performed entirely through the exposed RPC endpoint.