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mkfifo: permissions of an existing file are changed after FIFO creation fails

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published May 30, 2026 in uutils/coreutils • Updated Jul 6, 2026

Package

cargo uu_mkfifo (Rust)

Affected versions

< 0.6.0

Patched versions

0.6.0

Description

When mkfifo() fails (e.g. target already exists), the code shows an error but is missing a continue;, so it falls through to fs::set_permissions and changes the permissions of the pre-existing file to the default FIFO mode (0o666 & umask -> 0644).

$ touch secret; chmod 000 secret
$ coreutils mkfifo secret fifo3 fifo4
mkfifo: cannot create fifo 'secret': File exists
$ ll secret      # uutils:
prw-r--r-- secret   # changed to 644 (GNU leaves it 000)

Impact: an attacker (or user error) can relax permissions on sensitive owner-only files such as SSH private keys, exposing them to other users. Recommendation: add continue; after the error.

Remediation: Acknowledged by Canonical; fixed in PR #10376.

Reported by Zellic in the uutils coreutils Program Security Assessment (prepared for Canonical, Jan 20 2026), audited commit 3a07ffc5a9bd4c283e75afa548ba1f1957bad242. Finding 3.8. Credit: Zellic.

Upstream tracking issue: uutils/coreutils#10020 · CVE-2026-35341

References

@sylvestre sylvestre published to uutils/coreutils May 30, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jul 6, 2026
Reviewed Jul 6, 2026
Last updated Jul 6, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(6th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Preservation of Permissions

The product does not preserve permissions or incorrectly preserves permissions when copying, restoring, or sharing objects, which can cause them to have less restrictive permissions than intended. Learn more on MITRE.

Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

The product specifies permissions for a security-critical resource in a way that allows that resource to be read or modified by unintended actors. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-35341

GHSA ID

GHSA-pmf6-rcx4-v53v

Source code

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