# CVE-2026-72694: Mrtg: mrtg daemon symlink-following chown allows local privilege escalation via pid file path manipulation

> Local attackers can exploit symlink following in MRTG to change file ownership, leading to privilege escalation and unauthorized file modification.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 11 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 28 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** ALSA-2026:57596, ALSA-2026:57600, ALSA-2026:65832, AZL-95885, CLSA-2026-1788267640, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72694, GHSA-pqrp-p4c6-2q4g, RHSA-2026:57596, RHSA-2026:57600, RHSA-2026:65832, RLSA-2026:57596, RLSA-2026:57600, RLSA-2026:65832, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72694

## What is CVE-2026-72694?

CVE-2026-72694 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 11 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in MRTG. When the MRTG daemon is started as a root user and subsequently drops privileges, a local, low-privileged attacker can exploit a symbolic link (symlink) following vulnerability. By influencing or pre-placing a symlink in the process ID (PID) file path, the attacker can trick the root process into changing the ownership of an arbitrary existing file to the daemon user. This can lead to local privilege escalation, allowing unauthorized access to or modification of sensitive files.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72694?


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `mrtg` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 2.17.10-12.el10_2.1 |
| `mrtg-selinux` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 2.17.10-12.el10_2.1 |
| `mrtg` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.17.7-1.el8_10.1 |
| `mrtg` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 2.17.7-12.el9_8.1 |
| `mrtg` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.2 | All versions | 0:2.17.10-12.el10_2.1 |
| `mrtg-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.2 | All versions | 0:2.17.10-12.el10_2.1 |
| `mrtg-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.2 | All versions | 0:2.17.10-12.el10_2.1 |
| `mrtg-selinux` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.2 | All versions | 0:2.17.10-12.el10_2.1 |
| `mrtg` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.17.7-1.el8_10.1 |
| `mrtg-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.17.7-1.el8_10.1 |
| `mrtg-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.17.7-1.el8_10.1 |
| `mrtg` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:2.17.7-12.el9_8.1 |
| `mrtg-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:2.17.7-12.el9_8.1 |
| `mrtg-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:2.17.7-12.el9_8.1 |
| `mrtg` | Rocky Linux:10 | All versions | 0:2.17.10-12.el10_2.1 |
| `mrtg` | Rocky Linux:8 | All versions | 0:2.17.7-1.el8_10.1 |
| `mrtg` | Rocky Linux:9 | All versions | 0:2.17.7-12.el9_8.1 |

## How do I fix CVE-2026-72694?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72694 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72694 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72694 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72694 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 11 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72694 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10. 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-2026-72694/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72694/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72694
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72694
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72694

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72694/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.