VulnerabilityPublished 11 Aug 2026Updated 9 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-72694: MRTG · Link Following

Affects mrtgSource GCVE Database

Authoritative record:CVE-2026-72694· High 7.1

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.1 High : upgrade to 10.2.1 or 9.8.1 soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.1High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 10.2.1, 9.8.1

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 11 Aug 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-pqrp-p4c6-2q4g

What to do

Upgrade the Red Hat redhat/mrtg package to 10.2.1 or 9.8.1.

Patches and advisories

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red Hatredhat/mrtg`pkg:rpm/redhat/mrtg`Other threats	Affected >=9.0 <9.8.1 >=10.0 <10.2.1	Fixed in 9.8.1 10.2.1

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released official security updates for MRTG that address this vulnerability. Users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and 10 should apply the MRTG package updates provided in advisories RHSA-2026:57596 and RHSA-2026:57600. Details and update instructions are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. Applying these updates fully mitigates the vulnerability. No additional mitigation steps are required beyond applying the official patches.

Description

A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG) daemon when started as root and then dropping privileges. An attacker with local access can exploit a symbolic link (symlink) following flaw by manipulating the PID file path, causing the root process to change ownership of arbitrary files to the daemon user. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-72694 and has a CVSS score of 7.1 (high severity). Red Hat has released security updates addressing this issue for Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 9 and 10.

Impact

Successful exploitation allows a local, low-privileged attacker to escalate privileges by causing MRTG running as root to change ownership of arbitrary files. This can lead to unauthorized access or modification of sensitive files, potentially compromising system security. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 7.1, reflecting high impact on confidentiality and integrity with no impact on availability.

Summary

CVE-2026-72694 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in MRTG caused by a symlink-following flaw in the PID file handling. When the MRTG daemon is started as root and drops privileges, a local attacker can pre-place or influence a symlink in the PID file path. This causes the root process to perform a chown operation on an arbitrary existing file, changing its ownership to the MRTG daemon user. This can allow unauthorized access or modification of sensitive files. The vulnerability is identified as CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access). Red Hat has issued security advisories and patches for affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and 10 variants to fix this issue.

CWE-59Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.
Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege
Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Symlink Attack (opens in a new tab)
Using Malicious Files (opens in a new tab)
Leverage Executable Code in Non-Executable Files (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Patches and advisories

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 9 Sep 2026, 13:34 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-59

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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