CVE-2026-4878
Description
A flaw was found in libcap. A local unprivileged user can exploit a Time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in the `cap_set_file()` function. This allows an attacker with write access to a parent directory to redirect file capability updates to an attacker-controlled file. By doing so, capabilities can be injected into or stripped from unintended executables, leading to privilege escalation.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
✚ Propose a mitigation on Community → Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
OS impact
SUSE Affected 1 release
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| — | Affected | — |
Debian Mixed 5 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| trixie | Fixed | 1:2.75-10+deb13u1 |
| sid | Fixed | 1:2.78-1 |
| forky | Fixed | 1:2.78-1 |
| bullseye | Affected | — |
| bookworm | Fixed | 1:2.66-4+deb12u3 |
Red Hat Mixed 5 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| 10.0 | Affected | — |
| 9.0 | Affected | — |
| 9 | Fixed | — |
| 8.0 | Affected | — |
| 8 | Fixed | — |
AlmaLinux Fixed 1 release
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Fixed | libcap-devel-2.48-10.el9_7.1.aarch64.rpm |
Rocky Linux Fixed 1 release
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Fixed | — |
Application impact
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap_project | libcap | - | |
| redhat | openshift_container_platform | 4.0 | |
| libcap_project | libcap | - | |
| redhat | openshift_container_platform | 4.0 | |
| gcp | | |
References
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:12423
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:12441
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:13285
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:14162
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:14937
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19130
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19346
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19456
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:19458
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20595
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:21254
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:21275
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:7473
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-4878
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2447554
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2451615
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/07/14
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/07/4
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/08/9
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/09/5
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/09/6
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-4878
- https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-4878.html
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/2451615
- https://errata.almalinux.org/8/ALSA-2026-13285.html
CWEs
CWE-367
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.