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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-27976: zed · UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following

Affects zedSource CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.8 High : upgrade to 0.224.4 soon.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
8.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 52% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 0.224.4
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 25 Feb 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 30 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade zed and zed-industries/zed to 0.224.4.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
zed-industrieszedAffected
  • <0.224.4
Fixed in
  • 0.224.4
GitHubzed-industries/zedpkg:github/zed-industries/zedOther threatsAffected
  • <0.224.4
Fixed in
  • 0.224.4

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

AI-suggested

The primary mitigation is to upgrade the zed code editor to version 0.224.4 or later, where the vulnerability is patched. Until upgrading, organizations should restrict installation of extensions to those from trusted sources only and educate users about the risks of installing unverified extensions. Implement application whitelisting or sandboxing to limit the impact of potential exploitation. Monitoring file system changes in the extension directories and unusual symlink creations can help detect exploitation attempts. Additionally, consider using endpoint protection solutions that can detect suspicious file writes or code execution patterns. Developers should review extension installation processes and avoid running the editor with elevated privileges to reduce impact. Finally, maintain regular backups to recover from potential destructive attacks leveraging this vulnerability.

Description

Zed, a code editor, has an extension installer allows tar/gzip downloads. Prior to version 0.224.4, the tar extractor (`async_tar::Archive::unpack`) creates symlinks from the archive without validation, and the path guard (`writeable_path_from_extension`) only performs lexical prefix checks without resolving symlinks. An attacker can ship a tar that first creates a symlink inside the extension workdir pointing outside (e.g., `escape -> /`), then writes files through the symlink, causing writes to arbitrary host paths. This escapes the extension sandbox and enables code execution. Version 0.224.4 patches the issue.

References

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