uutils coreutils has a Link Following Issue

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

5.3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2026-35345: 0.10% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 0.66 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

A vulnerability in the tail utility of uutils coreutils allows for the exfiltration of sensitive file contents when using the --follow=name option. Unlike GNU tail, the uutils implementation continues to monitor a path after it has been replaced by a symbolic link, subsequently outputting the contents of the link's target. In environments where a privileged user (e.g., root) monitors a log directory, a local attacker with write access to that directory can replace a log file with a symlink to a sensitive system file (such as /etc/shadow), causing tail to disclose the contents of the sensitive file.

Published by the source

22 Apr 2026, 18:31 UTC

Last modified by the source

29 Apr 2026, 22:58 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:42 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-xf75-659h-cgg5

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-35345

Advisory: uutils coreutils has a Link Following Issue
IDs: CVE-2026-35345, GHSA-xf75-659h-cgg5
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-35345 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:42 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.3)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor response not established. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- crates.io coreutils: affected <= 0.8.0

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- crates.io coreutils: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
No complete vendor fix is recorded. Follow the primary source's mitigation guidance and check this record again before closing anything.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on coreutils.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-xf75-659h-cgg5 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-xf75-659h-cgg5 lists affected ranges: crates.io coreutils >=0 <=0.8.0)

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