Cyber Resilience

CWE · MITRE source

CWE-61UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following

Abstraction: Compound · CVEs in our corpus: 166

The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently account for when the file is a symbolic link that resolves to a target outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause the product to operate on unauthorized files.

A product that allows UNIX symbolic links (symlink) as part of paths whether in internal code or through user input can allow an attacker to spoof the symbolic link and traverse the file system to unintended locations or access arbitrary files. The symbolic link can permit an attacker to read/write/corrupt a file that they originally did not have permissions to access.

Last updated: 22 August 2026 14:14 UTC

Cumulative inbound coverage

How completely the frameworks we cross-walk collectively cover this — the verdict is the strongest single mapping (overlapping partials are not summed); breadth shows the corroboration behind it.

Collective: mostly · 2 mapping(s) from 2 framework(s): STIG oracle linux 8 1 (mostly) · CAPEC 1 (partial)

See the full cumulative-coverage rollup →

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

This weakness contributes to A01:2025 Broken Access Control.

Control responseHuman-reviewed

Answering this weakness across the control lifecycle, from our framework cross-walks.

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53 / CSF Protect)
  • PR.PS-06
  • AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
  • PR.AA-05
Detect
Catch it (CSF Detect / Respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.5

NIST 800-53 r5 controls that address this weakness (0)AI-assisted

Control Title Family Why it addresses this CWE
No NIST controls proposed yet.

Top CVEs of this weakness type, ranked by Risk Priority

CVE Risk CVSS EPSS Published
CVE-2026-54420 KEV8.78.50.01442026-06-14
CVE-2024-28185 8.110.00.07062024-04-18
CVE-2024-28189 8.110.00.07212024-04-18
CVE-2026-34078 7.710.00.01682026-04-07
CVE-2026-398617.510.00.00712026-04-21
CVE-2024-54661 7.49.80.00802024-12-04
CVE-2024-54148 7.49.80.00852024-12-23
CVE-2025-23394 7.39.80.00532025-05-26
CVE-2025-621617.210.00.00242025-11-06
CVE-2025-625967.110.00.00252025-11-06
CVE-2026-631257.09.90.00662026-08-21
CVE-2026-554476.89.60.00472026-06-23
CVE-2024-22014 6.78.80.00762024-04-15
CVE-2025-55345 6.78.80.00842025-08-13
CVE-2026-27976 6.68.80.00492026-02-26
CVE-2026-29203 6.68.80.00492026-05-08
CVE-2026-56748 6.68.80.00582026-07-27
CVE-2023-37460 6.58.10.02482023-07-25
CVE-2026-6475 6.58.80.00322026-05-14
CVE-2021-32518 6.27.50.01672021-07-07
CVE-2024-47515 6.28.10.00562024-12-24
CVE-2025-674876.28.60.00412025-12-09
CVE-2025-33225 6.28.40.00302025-12-16
CVE-2026-39860 6.29.00.00192026-04-08
CVE-2019-16775 6.17.70.03332019-12-13