CVE-2026-35338

low-risk
Published 2026-04-22

A vulnerability in the chmod utility of uutils coreutils allows users to bypass the --preserve-root safety mechanism. The implementation only validates if the target path is literally / and does not canonicalize the path. An attacker or accidental user can use path variants such as /../ or symbolic links to execute destructive recursive operations (e.g., chmod -R 000) on the entire root filesystem, leading to system-wide permission loss and potential complete system breakdown.

Do I need to act?

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0.01% chance of exploitation
EPSS score — low exploit probability
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Not on CISA KEV list
No confirmed active exploitation reported to CISA
?
Patch status unknown
Check vendor advisories for fix availability and mitigation guidance
7
CVSS 7.3/10 High
LOCAL / LOW complexity

Affected Products (1)

Affected Vendors

28
/ 100
low-risk
Severity 23/34 · High
Exploitability 0/34 · Minimal
Exposure 5/34 · Minimal