Description
A vulnerability in the rm utility of uutils coreutils allows a bypass of the --preserve-root protection. The implementation uses a path-string check rather than comparing device and inode numbers to identify the root directory. An attacker or accidental user can bypass this safeguard by using a symbolic link that resolves to the root directory (e.g., /tmp/rootlink -> /), potentially leading to the unintended recursive deletion of the entire root filesystem.
Affected products
uutils: coreutils
References2
- github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/9706 Issue TrackingPatch
- github.com/uutils/coreutils/releases/tag/0.7.0 Release Notes
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
7.7
HIGH
Score source: NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H - EPSS — exploit probability
- 0% percentile: 8 · as of 13 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-59
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