rclone: Directory metadata (chmod/chown/chtimes) applied through a planted symlink in rclone local --links escapes the destination

Exploitation

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

CVSS

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

EPSS

• CVE-2026-88016: 0.19% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 8.39 (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.

Summary With -l/--links, rclone's local backend recreates a source .rclonelink object as a real symlink at the destination verbatim (preserved by design for faithful backups). Directory-metadata application, however, does not go through the os.Root sandbox and does not use NOFOLLOW syscalls. A local Directory always has translatedLink=false, so when the destination path already exists as a planted symlink, rclone applies chmod/chown/chtimes through that symlink to a target outside the destination tree. An attacker who controls the source contents (malicious/compromised remote, shared bucket) obtains attacker-valued chmod/chown/chtimes of an arbitrary path outside the backup destination. Root Cause - MkdirMetadata (backend/local/local.go:895) calls f.lstat (=os.Lstat, local.go:465) on the destination path. On a pre-planted symlink, os.Lstat succeeds, so the errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) branch (local.go:896) that would create a real directory via the os.Root-guarded f.Mkdir is not…

Published by the source

10 Sep 2026, 22:51 UTC

Last modified by the source

17 Sep 2026, 17:40 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:29 UTC

1. Revision 3 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh

2. Revision 2 · amended · 24 Oct 2026

   Amended from osv record GO-2026-6459

3. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-88016

Advisory: rclone: Directory metadata (chmod/chown/chtimes) applied through a planted symlink in rclone local --links escapes the destination
IDs: CVE-2026-88016, GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-88016 (revision 3, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:29 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 6.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/rclone/rclone 1.75.1. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/rclone/rclone: affected <= 1.75.0; fixed in 1.75.1

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/rclone/rclone: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/rclone/rclone.
- 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://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh (OSV record GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh lists affected ranges: Go github.com/rclone/rclone >=0 <1.75.1 (fixed))
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GO-2026-6459 (OSV record GO-2026-6459 lists affected ranges: Go github.com/rclone/rclone >=0 <1.75.1 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh lists affected ranges: Go github.com/rclone/rclone >=0 <=1.75.0)

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