The Gradle Shadow plugin, used to build fat or uber JARs, failed to independently sanitize ZIP entry names before adding them to an output archive until version 9.6.0. This deficiency allows a malicious dependency to supply entry names that contain directory traversal components, resulting in those files being written outside the intended destination when the archive is extracted without protection. Consequently, an attacker can achieve arbitrary file write on the target system, compromising file integrity and potentially exposing sensitive data.

The vulnerability affects the GradleUp:shadow plugin in all releases prior to 9.6.0. Building projects that depend on versions earlier than 9.6.0 and rely on the plugin to process dependency archives can expose the application to this flaw. Merely updating Gradle itself does not mitigate the issue; the plugin version must be updated.

The CVSS score of 6.3 indicates a moderate severity. No EPSS information is available, and the flaw is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog, suggesting limited publicly known exploitation. Attackers would need to supply a crafted dependency jar containing traversal entry names, and the resulting archive would have to be extracted by a process that does not enforce path‑traversal protection. If successful, the attacker can write files outside the intended directory, enabling further compromise such as overwriting configuration files or inserting malicious code.