Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-88016

Published
10 September 2026
Modified
10 September 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 48 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-88016 is a high-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 10th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-16 (Security and Privacy Attributes) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

rclone is a command-line program to sync files and directories to and from different cloud storage providers. Prior to 1.75.1, when backend/local runs with --links, a source .rclonelink object can plant a symlink in the destination and later directory metadata…

more

is applied through that path. MkdirMetadata, writeMetadataToFile, and setTimes operate when Directory.translatedLink=false, so os.Chown, os.Chmod, os.Chtimes, and birth-time handling can bypass os.Root confinement and follow the symlink. An attacker controlling source contents can therefore apply selected ownership, permissions, modification times, or birth times to a file or directory outside the destination, with --metadata required for chmod and chown while modification time is applied by the normal directory workflow. This issue is fixed in version 1.75.1.

CWE(s)
CWE-59CWE-281

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
attack.mitre.org →
T1034 Path Interception Persistence
**This technique has been deprecated.
attack.mitre.org →
T1039 Data from Network Shared Drive Collection
Adversaries may search network shares on computers they have compromised to find files of interest.
attack.mitre.org →
T1080 Taint Shared Content Lateral Movement
attack.mitre.org →
T1547.009 Shortcut Modification Persistence
Adversaries may create or modify shortcuts that can execute a program during system boot or user login.
attack.mitre.org →
T1552 Unsecured Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-28642Shared CWE-281, CWE-59
CVE-2024-44211Shared CWE-281, CWE-59
CVE-2024-52522Shared CWE-281, CWE-59
CVE-2024-12125Shared CWE-281
CVE-2024-33921Shared CWE-281
CVE-2024-37649Shared CWE-281
CVE-2024-41644Shared CWE-281
CVE-2023-39902Shared CWE-281
CVE-2023-45807Shared CWE-281
CVE-2024-56317Shared CWE-281

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V15.4.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-16 Security and Privacy Attributes partial match

Associating and preserving security attributes (including permissions) with objects reduces the chance they are lost or weakened on copy/restore/share.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Proper enforcement of access authorizations on the resolved target resource stops a link from reaching an unintended object.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least-privilege limits the damage an attacker can cause after following an unintended link.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Validating file-name inputs can reject or canonicalize names that resolve to links before access occurs.

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.

PR.AA-05 partial match
prevents

Enforcing least-privilege permission policies and reviews directly prevents incorrect permission propagation on copy/restore/share operations.

PR.PS-06 partial match
prevents

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.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
degrades

Access-control policy defines how permissions must be preserved when objects are copied or shared.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
degrades

Access-rights provisioning and review processes directly address the risk of overly permissive copied objects.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights partial match
degrades

Privileged-access management includes rules for maintaining correct permissions on copied or restored data.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices can mandate link-resolution checks and canonicalization before file access.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can explicitly require safe handling of symbolic links and path traversal.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles include input validation and safe file-access design patterns.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205743 Windows Server 2019 organization created Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) objects must have proper access control permissions. prevents CWE-281

References