CVE-2026-53612
Received
Received - Intake
Privilege Escalation in util-linux via Race Condition in mount Utility
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-53612, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-10-14
Last updated on: 2026-10-14
Assigner: GitHub, Inc.
Description
Description
util-linux is a random collection of Linux utilities. In util-linux 2.39 through 2.41.4 and 2.42 through 2.42.1, the SUID `mount` utility's `hook_owner.c` post-mount hook performs path-based `chmod()` and `lchown()` operations on a previously validated mount target. A local low-privileged user authorized by an `/etc/fstab` entry with `user` or `users` and an `X-mount.mode`, `X-mount.owner`, or `X-mount.group` option can use `renameat2(RENAME_EXCHANGE)` to race a writable ancestor of the target and redirect the privileged ownership or mode change to a root-owned path, potentially gaining root privileges. This issue is fixed in 2.41.5 and 2.42.2.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| util-linux | util-linux | >= 2.39, < 2.41.5 |
| util-linux | util-linux | >= 2.42, < 2.42.2 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-367 | The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check. |
