CVE-2026-54371: attr < 2.6.0 Symlink Traversal Privilege Escalation via getfattr/setfattr

Severity: high (CVSS 7.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-06-29 · updated 2026-10-25
Weakness: CWE-59

Description

attr before version 2.6.0 contains a symlink traversal vulnerability in the getfattr and setfattr utilities that allows local attackers to escalate privileges by replacing a pathname component with a symbolic link during directory hierarchy traversal. Attackers who control a pathname component can redirect getfattr and setfattr operations to arbitrary files by substituting a symlink, leading to local privilege escalation when getfattr or setfattr is invoked by a privileged process over an attacker-controlled path.

Affected products

attr project attr: before 2.6.0 — fixed in 2.6.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: attr project attr 2.6.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2026-54371 or the next vulnerability affects your stack