# 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.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-91205, GHSA-5jj9-v4xp-h5h5, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-91205

## 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 (Race Condition Enabling Link Following)

## 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.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-91205 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-91205 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-2026-91205/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-91205/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-91205
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-91205
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-91205

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-91205/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.