Libcap: libcap: privilege escalation via toctou race condition in cap_set_file()

6.7 / 10

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Description

A flaw was found in libcap. A local unprivileged user can exploit a Time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in the `cap_set_file()` function. This allows an attacker with write access to a parent directory to redirect file capability updates to an attacker-controlled file. By doing so, capabilities can be injected into or stripped from unintended executables, leading to privilege escalation.

Basic Information

ID CVE-2026-4878

Source redhat

Published Apr 9, 2026 at 14:49

Modified Apr 10, 2026 at 03:56

Affected Product

Vendor Red Hat

Product Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

CWE Classification

CWE-367

References

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    "published": "2026-04-09T14:49:02.942Z",
    "modified": "2026-04-10T03:56:06.647Z",
    "type": "cve",
    "title": "Libcap: libcap: privilege escalation via toctou race condition in cap_set_file()",
    "source": "redhat",
    "references": "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-4878\nhttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2447554\nhttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2451615",
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Libcap: libcap: privilege escalation via toctou race condition in cap_set_file()_CVE-2026-4878