VulnerabilityPublished 12 Nov 2026

CVE-2026-126644: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

Affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10Source CVE Database V5

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Mentioned vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-11837

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 3.9 Low.

Data as of 12 Nov 2026, 11:06 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

3.9Low

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

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

CVSS scores by source
CNA (redhat)	CVSS 3.1	3.9

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

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

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: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Nov 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 11 Nov 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.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), 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.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10rhc-worker-playbook	Affected–	Fixed in–
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9rhc-worker-playbook	Affected–	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Do not run ansible.posix.authorized_key as root against home or .ssh directories that unprivileged users can modify. Before running the authorized_key task, verify that target directories are not attacker-controllable symlinks.

Description

CVE-2026-126644 is a link-following flaw in the authorized_key module of the ansible.posix collection used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10. It allows an unprivileged local user to replace their ~/.ssh directory with a symlink to a directory they do not own. When an operator runs the authorized_key task as root, the module writes files through the symlink, potentially overwriting files in attacker-controlled directories. This flaw does not allow privilege escalation but can cause integrity and availability impacts by overwriting files such as those in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/.

Impact

The vulnerability does not allow privilege escalation because the written files are owned by the unprivileged user and targets like /root/.ssh/authorized_keys are protected by sshd StrictModes, and /etc/sudoers.d/ by sudo checks. However, it allows an attacker with local access to create or overwrite files in arbitrary directories if an operator runs the authorized_key module as root against an attacker-controlled symlink. This can disrupt system integrity and availability, for example by corrupting package management configuration.

Summary

This vulnerability arises from improper link resolution in the authorized_key module residual to a previous fix (CVE-2026-11837). The fix only protects the final path component, allowing path operations to traverse symlinks in parent directories. An unprivileged user can create a symlink from their ~/.ssh directory to an arbitrary directory they do not own. When the authorized_key Ansible task is run as root, it writes and renames files through the symlink, creating or overwriting files in the attacker-controlled target directory. The file ownership is set to the unprivileged user, preventing privilege escalation, but the attacker can cause integrity and availability issues by overwriting critical files that are read regardless of ownership, such as APT configuration files.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 12 Nov 2026, 11:06 UTC

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