Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-35359 is a medium-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Uutils Coreutils. Its CVSS base score is 4.7 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-25000
Vulnerability Data
A Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) vulnerability in the cp utility of uutils coreutils allows an attacker to bypass no-dereference intent. The utility checks if a source path is a symbolic link using path-based metadata but subsequently opens it without the…
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O_NOFOLLOW flag. An attacker with concurrent write access can swap a regular file for a symbolic link during this window, causing a privileged cp process to copy the contents of arbitrary sensitive files into a destination controlled by the attacker.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
TOCTOU race in privileged cp enables unauthorized sensitive file reads via symlink swap, directly facilitating local privilege escalation.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces the no-dereference policy on file operations that the TOCTOU race bypasses.
Requires timely remediation of the identified TOCTOU flaw (CWE-367/59) in the cp utility.
Limits the files a privileged cp process can read, reducing impact if the symlink swap succeeds.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly require code to validate paths and avoid unsafe link following.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing can detect link-following flaws before release.
Secure SDLC practices can mandate link-resolution checks and canonicalization before file access.
Application security requirements can explicitly require safe handling of symbolic links and path traversal.
Secure architecture principles include input validation and safe file-access design patterns.
Secure coding standards directly address canonicalization and symlink attacks during implementation.
Reliable, synchronized time across systems narrows the exploitable window in which a resource state can change between a security check and its use.