CVE-2026-26158 (GCVE-0-2026-26158)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-02-11 20:27 – Updated: 2026-02-26 14:44
VLAI?
Title
Busybox: busybox: arbitrary file modification and privilege escalation via unvalidated tar archive entries
Summary
A flaw was found in BusyBox. This vulnerability allows an attacker to modify files outside of the intended extraction directory by crafting a malicious tar archive containing unvalidated hardlink or symlink entries. If the tar archive is extracted with elevated privileges, this flaw can lead to privilege escalation, enabling an attacker to gain unauthorized access to critical system files.
Severity ?
7 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE
  • CWE-73 - External Control of File Name or Path
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6     cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6
 Create a notification for this product.
Date Public ?
2026-02-11 00:00
Credits
Red Hat would like to thank Calil Khalil (Hakal) for reporting this issue.
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2026-26158",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "total"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-02-12T04:55:24.841610Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-02-26T14:44:23.355Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6"
          ],
          "defaultStatus": "unknown",
          "packageName": "busybox",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6",
          "vendor": "Red Hat"
        }
      ],
      "credits": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "Red Hat would like to thank Calil Khalil (Hakal) for reporting this issue."
        }
      ],
      "datePublic": "2026-02-11T00:00:00.000Z",
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "A flaw was found in BusyBox. This vulnerability allows an attacker to modify files outside of the intended extraction directory by crafting a malicious tar archive containing unvalidated hardlink or symlink entries. If the tar archive is extracted with elevated privileges, this flaw can lead to privilege escalation, enabling an attacker to gain unauthorized access to critical system files."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "other": {
            "content": {
              "namespace": "https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/",
              "value": "Important"
            },
            "type": "Red Hat severity rating"
          }
        },
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "attackComplexity": "HIGH",
            "attackVector": "LOCAL",
            "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
            "baseScore": 7,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
            "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
            "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
            "scope": "UNCHANGED",
            "userInteraction": "REQUIRED",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          },
          "format": "CVSS"
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-73",
              "description": "External Control of File Name or Path",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-02-12T15:39:53.620Z",
        "orgId": "53f830b8-0a3f-465b-8143-3b8a9948e749",
        "shortName": "redhat"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "vdb-entry",
            "x_refsource_REDHAT"
          ],
          "url": "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-26158"
        },
        {
          "name": "RHBZ#2439040",
          "tags": [
            "issue-tracking",
            "x_refsource_REDHAT"
          ],
          "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2439040"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.busybox.net/busybox/commit/archival?id=3fb6b31c716669e12f75a2accd31bb7685b1a1cb"
        }
      ],
      "timeline": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-02-11T18:09:00.001Z",
          "value": "Reported to Red Hat."
        },
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-02-11T00:00:00.000Z",
          "value": "Made public."
        }
      ],
      "title": "Busybox: busybox: arbitrary file modification and privilege escalation via unvalidated tar archive entries",
      "workarounds": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "As a prevention measure, avoid extracting tar archives from untrusted sources using BusyBox, especially when operating with elevated privileges. If processing untrusted archives is unavoidable, ensure that the extraction process is performed within a strictly sandboxed environment with minimal permissions. This operational control reduces the risk of arbitrary file modification and privilege escalation."
        }
      ],
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "cvelib 1.8.0"
      },
      "x_redhatCweChain": "CWE-73: External Control of File Name or Path"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "53f830b8-0a3f-465b-8143-3b8a9948e749",
    "assignerShortName": "redhat",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-26158",
    "datePublished": "2026-02-11T20:27:06.979Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-02-11T17:05:41.991Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-02-26T14:44:23.355Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "nvd": "{\"cve\":{\"id\":\"CVE-2026-26158\",\"sourceIdentifier\":\"secalert@redhat.com\",\"published\":\"2026-02-11T21:16:21.607\",\"lastModified\":\"2026-02-12T15:10:37.307\",\"vulnStatus\":\"Awaiting Analysis\",\"cveTags\":[],\"descriptions\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"A flaw was found in BusyBox. This vulnerability allows an attacker to modify files outside of the intended extraction directory by crafting a malicious tar archive containing unvalidated hardlink or symlink entries. If the tar archive is extracted with elevated privileges, this flaw can lead to privilege escalation, enabling an attacker to gain unauthorized access to critical system files.\"}],\"metrics\":{\"cvssMetricV31\":[{\"source\":\"secalert@redhat.com\",\"type\":\"Primary\",\"cvssData\":{\"version\":\"3.1\",\"vectorString\":\"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H\",\"baseScore\":7.0,\"baseSeverity\":\"HIGH\",\"attackVector\":\"LOCAL\",\"attackComplexity\":\"HIGH\",\"privilegesRequired\":\"NONE\",\"userInteraction\":\"REQUIRED\",\"scope\":\"UNCHANGED\",\"confidentialityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"integrityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"availabilityImpact\":\"HIGH\"},\"exploitabilityScore\":1.0,\"impactScore\":5.9}]},\"weaknesses\":[{\"source\":\"secalert@redhat.com\",\"type\":\"Primary\",\"description\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"CWE-73\"}]}],\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-26158\",\"source\":\"secalert@redhat.com\"},{\"url\":\"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2439040\",\"source\":\"secalert@redhat.com\"},{\"url\":\"https://git.busybox.net/busybox/commit/archival?id=3fb6b31c716669e12f75a2accd31bb7685b1a1cb\",\"source\":\"secalert@redhat.com\"}]}}",
    "vulnrichment": {
      "containers": "{\"adp\": [{\"title\": \"CISA ADP Vulnrichment\", \"metrics\": [{\"other\": {\"type\": \"ssvc\", \"content\": {\"id\": \"CVE-2026-26158\", \"role\": \"CISA Coordinator\", \"options\": [{\"Exploitation\": \"none\"}, {\"Automatable\": \"no\"}, {\"Technical Impact\": \"total\"}], \"version\": \"2.0.3\", \"timestamp\": \"2026-02-12T04:55:24.841610Z\"}}}], \"providerMetadata\": {\"orgId\": \"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0\", \"shortName\": \"CISA-ADP\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-02-11T20:50:11.404Z\"}}], \"cna\": {\"title\": \"Busybox: busybox: arbitrary file modification and privilege escalation via unvalidated tar archive entries\", \"credits\": [{\"lang\": \"en\", \"value\": \"Red Hat would like to thank Calil Khalil (Hakal) for reporting this issue.\"}], \"metrics\": [{\"other\": {\"type\": \"Red Hat severity rating\", \"content\": {\"value\": \"Important\", \"namespace\": \"https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/\"}}}, {\"format\": \"CVSS\", \"cvssV3_1\": {\"scope\": \"UNCHANGED\", \"version\": \"3.1\", \"baseScore\": 7, \"attackVector\": \"LOCAL\", \"baseSeverity\": \"HIGH\", \"vectorString\": \"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H\", \"integrityImpact\": \"HIGH\", \"userInteraction\": \"REQUIRED\", \"attackComplexity\": \"HIGH\", \"availabilityImpact\": \"HIGH\", \"privilegesRequired\": \"NONE\", \"confidentialityImpact\": \"HIGH\"}}], \"affected\": [{\"cpes\": [\"cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6\"], \"vendor\": \"Red Hat\", \"product\": \"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6\", \"packageName\": \"busybox\", \"collectionURL\": \"https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/\", \"defaultStatus\": \"unknown\"}], \"timeline\": [{\"lang\": \"en\", \"time\": \"2026-02-11T18:09:00.001Z\", \"value\": \"Reported to Red Hat.\"}, {\"lang\": \"en\", \"time\": \"2026-02-11T00:00:00.000Z\", \"value\": \"Made public.\"}], \"datePublic\": \"2026-02-11T00:00:00.000Z\", \"references\": [{\"url\": \"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-26158\", \"tags\": [\"vdb-entry\", \"x_refsource_REDHAT\"]}, {\"url\": \"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2439040\", \"name\": \"RHBZ#2439040\", \"tags\": [\"issue-tracking\", \"x_refsource_REDHAT\"]}, {\"url\": \"https://git.busybox.net/busybox/commit/archival?id=3fb6b31c716669e12f75a2accd31bb7685b1a1cb\"}], \"workarounds\": [{\"lang\": \"en\", \"value\": \"As a prevention measure, avoid extracting tar archives from untrusted sources using BusyBox, especially when operating with elevated privileges. If processing untrusted archives is unavoidable, ensure that the extraction process is performed within a strictly sandboxed environment with minimal permissions. This operational control reduces the risk of arbitrary file modification and privilege escalation.\"}], \"x_generator\": {\"engine\": \"cvelib 1.8.0\"}, \"descriptions\": [{\"lang\": \"en\", \"value\": \"A flaw was found in BusyBox. This vulnerability allows an attacker to modify files outside of the intended extraction directory by crafting a malicious tar archive containing unvalidated hardlink or symlink entries. If the tar archive is extracted with elevated privileges, this flaw can lead to privilege escalation, enabling an attacker to gain unauthorized access to critical system files.\"}], \"problemTypes\": [{\"descriptions\": [{\"lang\": \"en\", \"type\": \"CWE\", \"cweId\": \"CWE-73\", \"description\": \"External Control of File Name or Path\"}]}], \"providerMetadata\": {\"orgId\": \"53f830b8-0a3f-465b-8143-3b8a9948e749\", \"shortName\": \"redhat\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-02-12T15:39:53.620Z\"}, \"x_redhatCweChain\": \"CWE-73: External Control of File Name or Path\"}}",
      "cveMetadata": "{\"cveId\": \"CVE-2026-26158\", \"state\": \"PUBLISHED\", \"dateUpdated\": \"2026-02-26T14:44:23.355Z\", \"dateReserved\": \"2026-02-11T17:05:41.991Z\", \"assignerOrgId\": \"53f830b8-0a3f-465b-8143-3b8a9948e749\", \"datePublished\": \"2026-02-11T20:27:06.979Z\", \"assignerShortName\": \"redhat\"}",
      "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
      "dataVersion": "5.2"
    }
  }
}


Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.




Sightings

Author Source Type Date

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.