A Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) vulnerability exists in the chcon utility of uutils coreutils during recursive operations. The implementation resolves recursive targets using a fresh path lookup (via fts_accpath) rather than binding the traversal and label application to the specific directory state encountered during traversal. Because these operations are not anchored to file descriptors, a local attacker with write access to a directory tree can exploit timing-sensitive rename or symbolic link races to redirect a privileged recursive relabeling operation to unintended files or directories. This vulnerability breaks the hardening expectations for SELinux administration workflows and can lead to the unauthorized modification of security labels on sensitive system objects.

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History

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 18:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) vulnerability exists in the chcon utility of uutils coreutils during recursive operations. The implementation resolves recursive targets using a fresh path lookup (via fts_accpath) rather than binding the traversal and label application to the specific directory state encountered during traversal. Because these operations are not anchored to file descriptors, a local attacker with write access to a directory tree can exploit timing-sensitive rename or symbolic link races to redirect a privileged recursive relabeling operation to unintended files or directories. This vulnerability breaks the hardening expectations for SELinux administration workflows and can lead to the unauthorized modification of security labels on sensitive system objects.
Title uutils coreutils chcon Security Bypass and Mandatory Access Control (MAC) Inconsistency via TOCTOU Race Condition
Weaknesses CWE-367
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L'}


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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: canonical

Published:

Updated: 2026-04-22T17:14:38.066Z

Reserved: 2026-04-02T12:58:56.088Z

Link: CVE-2026-35376

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-04-22T17:11:34.124Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2026-04-22T17:16:42.430

Modified: 2026-04-22T21:23:52.620

Link: CVE-2026-35376

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-04-22T18:15:15Z

Weaknesses