A vulnerability in the tail utility of uutils coreutils allows for the exfiltration of sensitive file contents when using the --follow=name option. Unlike GNU tail, the uutils implementation continues to monitor a path after it has been replaced by a symbolic link, subsequently outputting the contents of the link's target. In environments where a privileged user (e.g., root) monitors a log directory, a local attacker with write access to that directory can replace a log file with a symlink to a sensitive system file (such as /etc/shadow), causing tail to disclose the contents of the sensitive file.
History

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

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A vulnerability in the tail utility of uutils coreutils allows for the exfiltration of sensitive file contents when using the --follow=name option. Unlike GNU tail, the uutils implementation continues to monitor a path after it has been replaced by a symbolic link, subsequently outputting the contents of the link's target. In environments where a privileged user (e.g., root) monitors a log directory, a local attacker with write access to that directory can replace a log file with a symlink to a sensitive system file (such as /etc/shadow), causing tail to disclose the contents of the sensitive file.
Title uutils coreutils tail Privileged Information Disclosure via Symlink Replacement Race
Weaknesses CWE-367
CWE-59
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: canonical

Published:

Updated: 2026-04-22T16:07:49.191Z

Reserved: 2026-04-02T12:58:56.087Z

Link: CVE-2026-35345

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-04-22T17:16:36.627

Modified: 2026-04-22T17:16:36.627

Link: CVE-2026-35345

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.