CVE-2026-88924
What it is
A flaw was found in the admin backend of gvfs. The privileged gvfsd-admin daemon changes the ownership of newly created private D-Bus sockets by calling the link-following chown() function on a pathname inside a user-controlled directory. A local attacker can exploit this via a Time-of-Check Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition and exchange the socket pathname with a symbolic link pointing to an arbitrary root-owned file (such as /etc/pam.d/su). The daemon subsequently follows the symlink and changes the ownership of the targeted root-owned file to the attacker's user ID. This allows an authenticated local attacker to modify critical system files, leading to a full local privilege escalation to root.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. High risk of data exposure, data tampering, service disruption.
- Exploit odds
- 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Fix
- No patch or advisory is linked yet. Look at mitigations or restrict exposure.
Timeline
- ReservedThe CVE id was reserved by its CNA
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Why it ranks here
- Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
- Exploit odds: 0.2% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Severity: 7.0 HIGH (CVSS).
- Fix: none linked yet, which raises it.
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-367
- Record status
- Awaiting Analysis
Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 7.0
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Is it in your code?
Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.
Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2026-88924.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2026-88924. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.
References
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:73998
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:74370
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:85939
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:85941
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:85942
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:85944
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-88924
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2531456
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gvfs/-/issues/875
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gvfs/-/issues/875