CVE-2026-110452

Deferred Deferred - Pending Action

Multi-User Installer Ownership Bypass in Nix

Publication date: 2026-10-14

Last updated on: 2026-10-16

Assigner: MITRE

Description

The multi-user installer in Nix before 2.35.3 sets the ownership of store contents to the user (who invoked the installer) even though it should be root ownership.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
Percentile:

Meta Information

Published

2026-10-14

Last Modified

2026-10-16

Generated

2026-10-19

AI Q&A

2026-10-14

EPSS Evaluated

2026-10-18

NVD

CVE-2026-110452

EUVD

EUVD-2026-100808

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
NixOS	Nix	0
NixOS	Nix	2.29.0
NixOS	Nix	2.31.0
NixOS	Nix	2.32.0
NixOS	Nix	2.35.0

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-708	The product assigns an owner to a resource, but the owner is outside of the intended control sphere.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

The vulnerability in Nix before 2.35.3 involves the multi-user installer incorrectly setting store contents ownership to the user instead of root. This misconfiguration can lead to unauthorized modifications of system files or packages.

Detection Guidance

Check store ownership on your system by running commands like 'ls -ld /nix/store/*' to verify root ownership. Look for paths owned by non-root users where root ownership is expected. Compare installed Nix version against patched versions (2.35.3, 2.34.9, etc.) using 'nix --version'.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability may allow an attacker to replace legitimate store paths with malicious versions before verification, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or system compromise. It primarily affects systems building untrusted derivations.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to improper file ownership in the Nix store, potentially allowing unauthorized modifications to system files. For GDPR, this may violate integrity and access control requirements. For HIPAA, it could compromise data integrity in healthcare environments using Nix.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade Nix to a patched version (2.35.3 or later) using the provided upgrade scripts or commands. Verify store ownership after upgrade and correct any improper ownership issues. Disable untrusted derivations if not needed and review sandbox settings on macOS.

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