⚠ Reference material — not professional advice. Test in staging, back up first, verify against your specific version. Use your own judgment for your environment.
● High · CVSS 7.1

How to Fix CVE-2026-40518: Path traversal in deer-flow

By Sai Kiran Pandrala. Last verified: 2026-05-25.

⚡ At a glance
Severity7.1 (High)
Actively exploited?No public listing in CISA KEV
Affectedbytedance deer-flow 0 to <2176b2bbfccfce25ceee08318813f96d843a13fd
Fixed indeer-flow 2176b2bbfccfce25ceee08318813f96d843a13fd
Type (CWE)CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

What is CVE-2026-40518?

ByteDance DeerFlow before commit 2176b2b contains a path traversal and arbitrary file write vulnerability in bootstrap-mode custom-agent creation where the agent name validation is bypassed. Attackers can supply traversal-style values or absolute paths as the agent name to influence directory creation and write files outside the intended custom-agent directory, potentially achieving arbitrary file write on the system subject to filesystem permissions.

Am I affected?

Run the version check that matches your platform:


# Linux
dpkg -s deer 2>/dev/null | grep -i version
rpm -q deer 2>/dev/null
deer --version 2>/dev/null

Compare what you see against the Affected row above (bytedance deer-flow 0 to <2176b2bbfccfce25ceee08318813f96d843a13fd). If your build sits inside that range, you are exposed and should patch.

How to fix CVE-2026-40518

The primary fix is to upgrade deer-flow to the patched build. Use the commands for your platform below; the patched version listed in the vendor advisory is: deer-flow 2176b2bbfccfce25ceee08318813f96d843a13fd.

Ubuntu / Debian


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade deer
deer --version 2>/dev/null || dpkg -s deer | grep -i version

RHEL / CentOS / Rocky / AlmaLinux


sudo dnf upgrade --security deer -y
rpm -q deer

SUSE / openSUSE


sudo zypper patch --category security
rpm -q deer

Complete PowerShell remediation script (Windows)


# Fix script for CVE-2026-40518 affecting deer-flow
# Run as administrator. Detect -> backup -> upgrade -> verify -> log.

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
$LogPath  = "C:\Logs\CVE-2026-40518-fix-$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd-HHmmss).log"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force (Split-Path $LogPath) | Out-Null
Start-Transcript -Path $LogPath -Append

try {
    Write-Host "[1/4] Detecting installed version of deer-flow"
    $pkg = winget list --id "deer_flow" 2>$null
    Write-Host $pkg

    Write-Host "[2/4] Backing up configuration"
    $backup = "C:\Backup\deer_flow-$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd)"
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force $backup | Out-Null
    Get-ChildItem "C:\ProgramData\deer_flow" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
        Copy-Item -Destination $backup -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    Write-Host "[3/4] Applying upgrade to deer-flow 2176b2bbfccfce25ceee08318813f96d843a13fd"
    winget upgrade --id "deer_flow" --silent --accept-source-agreements --accept-package-agreements
    # Fallback: Windows Update for OS-level fixes
    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
        Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdate -Force -SkipPublisherCheck -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate
        Install-WindowsUpdate -MicrosoftUpdate -AcceptAll -IgnoreReboot
    }

    Write-Host "[4/4] Verifying patched build"
    winget list --id "deer_flow"
    Write-Host "Fix applied. Reboot if prompted."
    exit 0
} catch {
    Write-Error "Patch failed: $_"
    exit 1
} finally {
    Stop-Transcript
}

Complete Bash remediation script (Linux)


#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Fix script for CVE-2026-40518 affecting deer-flow
# Detect -> backup -> upgrade -> verify -> log.

set -euo pipefail
LOG="/var/log/cve-2026-40518-fix-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).log"
exec > >(tee -a "$LOG") 2>&1

echo "[1/4] Detecting installed version"
if command -v dpkg >/dev/null; then
    dpkg -s deer 2>/dev/null | grep -i version || echo "deer not installed via dpkg"
elif command -v rpm >/dev/null; then
    rpm -q deer || echo "deer not installed via rpm"
fi

echo "[2/4] Backing up configuration"
BACKUP="/root/backup-cve-2026-40518-$(date +%Y%m%d)"
mkdir -p "$BACKUP"
for d in /etc/deer /etc/deer.d /etc/deer.conf; do
    [ -e "$d" ] && cp -a "$d" "$BACKUP/" || true
done

echo "[3/4] Applying upgrade (target: deer-flow 2176b2bbfccfce25ceee08318813f96d843a13fd)"
if command -v apt-get >/dev/null; then
    apt-get update
    apt-get install --only-upgrade -y deer
elif command -v dnf >/dev/null; then
    dnf upgrade --security -y deer
elif command -v yum >/dev/null; then
    yum update -y deer
elif command -v zypper >/dev/null; then
    zypper --non-interactive patch --category security
fi

echo "[4/4] Verifying patched build"
if command -v dpkg >/dev/null; then
    dpkg -s deer 2>/dev/null | grep -i version
elif command -v rpm >/dev/null; then
    rpm -q deer
fi
echo "Done. Restart any running daemons that loaded the old library."

If you can't patch immediately

If you cannot apply the patched version today, restrict exposure with one of the following runnable controls. None replace the patch.

Network restriction (Linux, nftables)


# Block inbound traffic to the affected service from untrusted networks
sudo nft add table inet filter
sudo nft 'add chain inet filter input { type filter hook input priority 0 ; }'
sudo nft 'add rule inet filter input tcp dport {443, 80} ip saddr != 10.0.0.0/8 drop'
sudo nft list ruleset

Service-level fallback


# If the affected feature is optional, stop the service until the patch is applied
sudo systemctl stop deer
sudo systemctl disable deer

How to verify the fix worked


# Linux
deer --version 2>/dev/null || dpkg -s deer | grep -i version
rpm -q deer 2>/dev/null || true


# Windows
winget list | findstr /I "deer"
Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object -First 5

Expected: the reported version is at or above deer-flow 2176b2bbfccfce25ceee08318813f96d843a13fd. Restart any services that loaded the old library (systemctl restart <service> on Linux, restart the Windows service or reboot when prompted). For network appliances, run show version on the device and confirm the build matches the patched release.

Frequently asked questions

Other vulnerabilities in the same area that are worth patching alongside this one:

Is CVE-2026-40518 actually being exploited?

According to the data sources above, no public confirmation of in-the-wild exploitation at this time. Either way, the fix is the same: apply the vendor patch.

Do I need to reboot after patching?

For OS or kernel updates, yes. For most userland packages a systemctl restart <service> is enough. Any process that loaded the old shared library keeps using it until restarted, so when in doubt, reboot.

What is the CVSS score?

7.1 (high). Refer to the vendor advisory for the exact vector string.

Where is the official advisory?

See the References section at the bottom of this page; the vendor's URL is the authoritative source for affected builds and patched versions.

References

*Written by Sai Kiran Pandrala. Assembled from the official vendor advisory, NVD record, and CISA KEV listing on 2026-05-25. Always confirm against the vendor's advisory before applying changes in production.*