PYSEC-2026-2009
Vulnerability from pysec - Published: 2026-07-07 16:03 - Updated: 2026-07-07 17:25Impact
TOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) vulnerabilities in virtualenv allow local attackers to perform symlink-based attacks on directory creation operations. An attacker with local access can exploit a race condition between directory existence checks and creation to redirect virtualenv's app_data and lock file operations to attacker-controlled locations.
Affected versions: All versions up to and including 20.36.1
Affected users: Any user running virtualenv on multi-user systems where untrusted local users have filesystem access to shared temporary directories or where VIRTUALENV_OVERRIDE_APP_DATA points to a user-writable location.
Attack scenarios: - Cache poisoning: Attacker corrupts wheels or Python metadata in the cache - Information disclosure: Attacker reads sensitive cached data or metadata - Lock bypass: Attacker controls lock file semantics to cause concurrent access violations - Denial of service: Lock starvation preventing virtualenv operations
Patches
The vulnerability has been patched by replacing check-then-act patterns with atomic os.makedirs(..., exist_ok=True) operations.
Fixed in: PR #3013
Versions with the fix: 20.36.2 and later
Users should upgrade to version 20.36.2 or later.
Workarounds
If you cannot upgrade immediately:
- Ensure
VIRTUALENV_OVERRIDE_APP_DATApoints to a directory owned by the current user with restricted permissions (mode 0700) - Avoid running
virtualenvin shared temporary directories where other users have write access - Use separate user accounts for different projects to isolate app_data directories
References
- GitHub PR: https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3013
- Vulnerability reported by: @tsigouris007
- CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization (TOCTOU)
- CWE-59: Improper Link Resolution Before File Access
| Name | purl | virtualenv | pkg:pypi/virtualenv |
|---|
{
"affected": [
{
"package": {
"ecosystem": "PyPI",
"name": "virtualenv",
"purl": "pkg:pypi/virtualenv"
},
"ranges": [
{
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "20.36.1"
}
],
"type": "ECOSYSTEM"
}
],
"versions": [
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"0.8.1",
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"0.8.3",
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}
],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2026-22702",
"GHSA-597g-3phw-6986"
],
"details": "## Impact\n\nTOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) vulnerabilities in `virtualenv` allow local attackers to perform symlink-based attacks on directory creation operations. An attacker with local access can exploit a race condition between directory existence checks and creation to redirect virtualenv\u0027s app_data and lock file operations to attacker-controlled locations.\n\n**Affected versions:** All versions up to and including 20.36.1\n\n**Affected users:** Any user running `virtualenv` on multi-user systems where untrusted local users have filesystem access to shared temporary directories or where `VIRTUALENV_OVERRIDE_APP_DATA` points to a user-writable location.\n\n**Attack scenarios:**\n- Cache poisoning: Attacker corrupts wheels or Python metadata in the cache\n- Information disclosure: Attacker reads sensitive cached data or metadata\n- Lock bypass: Attacker controls lock file semantics to cause concurrent access violations\n- Denial of service: Lock starvation preventing virtualenv operations\n\n## Patches\n\nThe vulnerability has been patched by replacing check-then-act patterns with atomic `os.makedirs(..., exist_ok=True)` operations.\n\n**Fixed in:** PR #3013\n\n**Versions with the fix:** 20.36.2 and later\n\nUsers should upgrade to version 20.36.2 or later.\n\n## Workarounds\n\nIf you cannot upgrade immediately:\n\n1. Ensure `VIRTUALENV_OVERRIDE_APP_DATA` points to a directory owned by the current user with restricted permissions (mode 0700)\n2. Avoid running `virtualenv` in shared temporary directories where other users have write access\n3. Use separate user accounts for different projects to isolate app_data directories\n\n## References\n\n- GitHub PR: https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3013\n- Vulnerability reported by: @tsigouris007\n- CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization (TOCTOU)\n- CWE-59: Improper Link Resolution Before File Access",
"id": "PYSEC-2026-2009",
"modified": "2026-07-07T17:25:46.955521Z",
"published": "2026-07-07T16:03:18.266289Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/security/advisories/GHSA-597g-3phw-6986"
},
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22702"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3013"
},
{
"type": "FIX",
"url": "https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/commit/dec4cec5d16edaf83a00a658f32d1e032661cebc"
},
{
"type": "PACKAGE",
"url": "https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv"
},
{
"type": "PACKAGE",
"url": "https://pypi.org/project/virtualenv"
},
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-597g-3phw-6986"
}
],
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
],
"summary": "virtualenv Has TOCTOU Vulnerabilities in Directory Creation"
}
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
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.