# CVE-2025-12801: Nfs-utils: rpc.mountd in the nfs-utils privilege escalation

> An NFSv3 client can bypass export permissions and squash settings to access unauthorized subdirectories, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALSA-2026:3938, ALSA-2026:3939, ALSA-2026:3940, BELL-CVE-2025-12801, CLSA-2026-1773224214, CLSA-2026-1773311565, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-12801, ECHO-eb83-cd7f-0158, GHSA-q8x7-j9x6-2fpc, OESA-2026-2597, OESA-2026-2598, OESA-2026-2599, OESA-2026-2688, RHSA-2026:3938, RHSA-2026:3939, RHSA-2026:3940, RHSA-2026:3941, RHSA-2026:3942, RLSA-2026:3938, RLSA-2026:3939, RLSA-2026:3940, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2025-12801, SUSE-SU-2026:1356-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-12801

## What is CVE-2025-12801?

CVE-2025-12801 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 4 Mar 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability was recently discovered in the rpc.mountd daemon in the nfs-utils package for Linux, that allows a NFSv3 client to escalate the
privileges assigned to it in the /etc/exports file at mount time. In particular, it allows the client to access any subdirectory or subtree of an exported directory, regardless of the set file permissions, and regardless of any 'root_squash' or 'all_squash' attributes that would normally be expected to apply to that client.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource), CWE-279 (Incorrect Execution-Assigned Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-12801?

It affects 3 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `libnfsidmap` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `libnfsidmap-devel` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfs-utils` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfs-utils-coreos` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfsv4-client-utils` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `libnfsidmap` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `libnfsidmap-devel` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `nfs-utils` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `libnfsidmap` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `libnfsidmap-devel` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfs-utils` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfs-utils-coreos` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfsv4-client-utils` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `libnfsidmap` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `libnfsidmap-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `libnfsidmap-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfs-utils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfs-utils-coreos` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfs-utils-coreos-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfs-utils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfs-utils-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfsv4-client-utils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `nfsv4-client-utils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.1 | All versions | 1:2.8.3-0.el10_1.3 |
| `libnfsidmap` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `libnfsidmap-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `nfs-utils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `nfs-utils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `nfs-utils-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `libnfsidmap-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `libnfsidmap-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `nfs-utils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `nfs-utils-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::crb | All versions | 1:2.3.3-68.el8_10 |
| `libnfsidmap-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfs-utils-coreos` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfs-utils-coreos-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfs-utils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfs-utils-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfsv4-client-utils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `nfsv4-client-utils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |
| `libnfsidmap` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos | All versions | 1:2.5.4-38.el9_7.3 |

Products: Linux-Nfs Nfs-Utils, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Redhat Openshift Container Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-12801?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2025-12801 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-12801 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Enterprise Linux

- [CVE-2003-0252](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0252/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2011-2500](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-2500/): Auth bypass in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2019-3689](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3689/): nfs-utils: root-owned files stored in insecure /var/lib/nfs directory (medium 5.1)
- [CVE-2011-1749](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1749/): Denial of service in n/a (low 3.3)
- [CVE-2013-1923](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1923/): Information disclosure in n/a (low 3.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-12801 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-12801 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 4 Mar 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-12801 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Enterprise Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-12801/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-12801/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-12801
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-12801
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-12801

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-12801/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.