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CVE-2026-23986 — Copier safe template has arbitrary filesystem write access via directory symlinks when _preserve_symlinks: true

Affected: copier-org copier

Copier is a library and CLI app for rendering project templates. Prior to version 9.11.2, Copier suggests that it's safe to generate a project from a safe template, i.e. one that doesn't use unsafe features like custom Jinja extensions which would require passing the `--UNSAFE,--trust` flag. As it turns out, a safe template can currently write to arbitrary directories outside the destination path by using directory a symlink along with `_preserve_symlinks: true` and a generated directory structure whose rendered path is inside the symlinked directory. This way, a malicious template author can create a template that overwrites arbitrary files (according to the user's write permissions), e.g., to cause havoc. Version 9.11.2 patches the issue.

GHSA-4fqp-r85r-hxqh — Copier safe template has arbitrary filesystem write access via directory symlinks when _preserve_symlinks: true

Affected: PyPI: copier

### Impact

Copier suggests that it's safe to generate a project from a safe template, i.e. one that doesn't use [unsafe](https://copier.readthedocs.io/en/stable/configuring/#unsafe) features like custom Jinja extensions which would require passing the `--UNSAFE,--trust` flag. As it turns out, a safe template can currently write to arbitrary directories outside the destination path by using directory a symlink along with [`_preserve_symlinks: true`](https://copier.readthedocs.io/en/stable/configuring/#preserve_symlinks) and a [generated directory structure](https://copier.readthedocs.io/en/stable/configuring/#generating-a-directory-structure) whose rendered path is inside the symlinked directory. This way, a malicious template author can create a template that overwrites arbitrary files (according to the user's write permissions), e.g., to cause havoc.

> [!NOTE] > > At the time of writing, the exploit is non-deterministic, as Copier walks the template's file tree using [`os.scandir`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/os.html#os.scandir) which yields directory entries in arbitrary order.

Reproducible example (may or may not work depending on directory entry yield order):

```shell mkdir other/ pushd other/ echo "sensitive" > sensitive.txt popd

mkdir src/ pushd src/ ln -s ../other other echo "overwritten" > "{{ pathjoin('other', 'sensitive.txt') }}.jinja" echo "_preserve_symlinks: true" > copier.yml tree . # . # ├── copier.yml # ├── other -> ../other # └── {{ pathjoin('othe…

PYSEC-2026-1272 — Copier safe template has arbitrary filesystem write access via directory symlinks when _preserve_symlinks: true

Affected: PyPI: copier

### Impact

Reproducible example (may or may not work depending on directory entry yield order):

```shell mkdir other/ pushd other/ echo "sensitive" > sensitive.txt popd