CVE-2026-126644Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 link following
CVE-2026-126644 is a link following in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, rated low (3.9 on CVSS 3.1).
Why this priority: Low severity, with no exploitation signal.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Awaiting Analysis
What it is
The software follows a symbolic link an attacker planted, so it reads or writes a file other than the one it checked.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it by someone who can already run code or sign in on the machine, with an ordinary user account, but someone has to act first, such as opening a file or following a link.
What an attacker gains
The direct impact is limited: partial access to data or a partial outage. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker read or write files outside the folders the service meant to expose.
Is it being exploited?
There is no public report of exploitation yet.
What to do
- No fixed version is listed yet. Find every place Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 runs, watch the references for a fix, and plan a replacement if it is no longer supported.
- Limit who can run code or sign in on the hosts that run it.
- Warn the people who use it, and filter files and links on the way in.
Description from NVD
A link-following flaw was found in the authorized_key module of the ansible.posix collection, residual to the fix for CVE-2026-11837. That fix guards only the final path component (os.chown with follow_symlinks=False and O_NOFOLLOW in _safe_open_write()). When an unprivileged local user replaces their ~/.ssh directory with a symlink to a directory they do not own, and an operator subsequently runs the authorized_key task as root (a common provisioning pattern), the module resolves its path operations through the symlink: atomic_move() writes the temporary file in the symlink target and renames it to <target>/authorized_keys, creating or overwriting a file in the attacker-chosen directory, and os.chmod(sshdir, 0o700) follows the symlink and changes the target directory's permissions. The written file is chowned to the unprivileged user, so this is not a privilege escalation, but it allows an attacker to create or overwrite files (for example in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/, which APT reads regardless of file ownership) to cause integrity and availability impacts.
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- File storage the service can read or write. The flaw sits between the application and the file system it can reach.
Trust boundaries in play
- Host boundary. The attacker needs a foothold on the machine first; the flaw turns a small foothold into a bigger one.
- People who open files and links. Mail, chat and browsers are the delivery path.
- Between the application and the file system it can reach. An attacker who crosses it can read or write files outside the folders the service meant to expose.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which of those hosts also run code or users you do not fully trust?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Read more
Issue reports
More reading
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.