Path Traversal in Uutils Coreutils
CVE-2026-35338
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.
Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.3 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.002 (9.2th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 9th percentile — 9.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000
Affected products
- Uutils Coreutils — versions 0
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/10033 (issue-tracking, Patch, patch, Issue Tracking)
- github.com/uutils/coreutils/releases/tag/0.6.0 (vendor-advisory, Release Notes)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-35338?
- CVE-2026-35338 is a high-severity vulnerability in Uutils Coreutils, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 7.3/10. Published 2026-04-22.
- How severe is CVE-2026-35338?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.3 out of 10.