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.
History

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description 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.
Title uutils coreutils chmod Path Traversal Bypass of --preserve-root
Weaknesses CWE-22
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: canonical

Published:

Updated: 2026-04-22T16:07:31.316Z

Reserved: 2026-04-02T12:58:56.086Z

Link: CVE-2026-35338

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-04-22T17:16:35.583

Modified: 2026-04-22T17:16:35.583

Link: CVE-2026-35338

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.