# CVE-2026-55567: BleachBit: Exploit File Delete to Escalate Privilege

> A local attacker can exploit a race condition in BleachBit's privileged file deletion to escalate privileges to SYSTEM on Windows.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vcjw-px28-5w94

## What is CVE-2026-55567?

CVE-2026-55567 is a high-severity vulnerability in bleachbit, published on 21 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

BleachBit cleans files to free disk space and to maintain privacy. Prior to 6.0.1, privileged Windows cleaning does not lock and validate a target's parent directory before deletion. A local unprivileged user can replace that directory with a Windows junction and use a native symlink to redirect the elevated deletion to an attacker-selected file. The arbitrary privileged file deletion can be combined with Windows Installer behavior to obtain local SYSTEM privileges. This issue is fixed in version 6.0.1.

Weakness: CWE-367 (Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-55567?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-55567?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-55567 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-55567 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-55567 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-55567 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-55567 is a high-severity vulnerability in bleachbit, published on 21 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-55567 exists.

Affected product: bleachbit. 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-2026-55567/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-55567/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-55567
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-55567
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-55567

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-55567/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.