CVE-2026-91205 Cockpit-files: cockpit-files: local attacker can hijack file ownership via symlink race
A local attacker can exploit a race condition in Cockpit Files to hijack file ownership via symlink attacks, leading to unauthorized data access or modification.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-91205?
CVE-2026-91205 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 18 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
A flaw was found in cockpit-files. A local unprivileged attacker can exploit a race condition during directory creation with owner assignment. By controlling a writable parent directory, the attacker can replace a newly created directory with a symbolic link (symlink) before the ownership change operation (chown) is applied. This allows the attacker to redirect the ownership change to an arbitrary file, potentially leading to information disclosure or unauthorized modification of sensitive files.
Weakness: CWE-363
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-91205?
How do I fix CVE-2026-91205?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-91205 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-91205 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-91205, GHSA-5jj9-v4xp-h5h5, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-91205.