PraisonAI’s FileTools component contains an error in the _validate_path routine. The function first normalizes paths, which collapses any '..' sequences, then checks for the presence of '..' in the already‑processed string. Because the collapse step removes those sequences, the subsequent check always succeeds, allowing an adversary to construct paths that escape the intended directory and access any file on the system. This flaw enables reading or modifying arbitrary files, potentially exposing sensitive data or allowing malicious code to be written. The weakness is a classic instance of path traversal as defined by CWE‑22.

The vendor MervinPraison publishes PraisonAI, and the vulnerability exists in every release before version 1.5.113. Any deployment running those earlier releases remains exposed.

The reported score for this issue is 9.2, indicating high severity with substantial impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. No publicly available exploit probability metric has been released. The flaw has not been documented in the relevant exploitation catalog. The attack likely involves either local or remote access to the component that can feed crafted file paths; once triggered, an attacker can read configuration files, secrets, or write arbitrary files, potentially leading to system compromise.