CVE-2026-35338
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.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
Mitigation details
CVE-2026-35338 NameCVE-2026-35338 DescriptionA 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…
CVE-2026-35338
| Name | CVE-2026-35338 |
| 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. |
| Source | CVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more) |
| Debian Bugs | 1134876 |
Vulnerable and fixed packages
The table below lists information on source packages.
| Source Package | Release | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| rust-coreutils (PTS) | bookworm | 0.0.17-2 | vulnerable |
| trixie | 0.0.30-2 | vulnerable | |
| sid | 0.9.0-2 | fixed |
The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.
| Package | Type | Release | Fixed Version | Urgency | Origin | Debian Bugs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rust-coreutils | source | (unstable) | 0.6.0-1 | 1134876 |
Notes
[trixie] - rust-coreutils <no-dsa> (Minor issue)
[bookworm] - rust-coreutils <no-dsa> (Minor issue)
https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/10033
Fixed by: https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/commit/413055b378fa6fe2299c5e5f538c8e6e841ab810 (0.6.0)
Apply commands
[trixie] - rust-coreutils <no-dsa> (Minor issue)[bookworm] - rust-coreutils <no-dsa> (Minor issue)https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/10033Fixed by: https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/commit/413055b378fa6fe2299c5e5f538c8e6e841ab810 (0.6.0)OS impact
Debian Mixed 3 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| trixie | Affected | — |
| sid | Fixed | 0.6.0-1 |
| bookworm | Affected | — |
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-35338
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/10033
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/commit/413055b378fa6fe2299c5e5f538c8e6e841ab810
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/releases/tag/0.6.0
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-35338
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9gqx-53gp-c8g3
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.