CVE-2026-35338
A vulnerability in the chmod utility of uutils coreutils allows users to bypass the --preserve-root safety mechanism.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.18%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
A vulnerability in the chmod utility of uutils coreutils allows users to bypass the --preserve-root safety mechanism. The implementation only validates if the target path is literally / and does not canonicalize the path. An attacker or accidental user can use path variants such as /../ or symbolic links to execute destructive recursive operations (e.g., chmod -R 000) on the entire root filesystem, leading to system-wide permission loss and potential complete system breakdown.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.3 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.18% probability · 7th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-22
- Affected
- uutils/coreutils
- Source
- security@ubuntu.com
References
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/10033Issue Tracking, Patch
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/releases/tag/0.6.0Release Notes
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.