VulnerabilityPublished 26 May 2026

CVE-2026-48693: fastnetmon · Link Following

Affects fastnetmonSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.5Medium

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.

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
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: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
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 26 May 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.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubpavel-odintsov/fastnetmon`pkg:github/pavel-odintsov/fastnetmon`Other threats	Affected <=1.2.9	Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

Until an official fix is available, users should restrict local access to the system and consider running FastNetMon with the least privileges possible. Avoid running the service as root if feasible. Monitor vendor channels for updates addressing the symlink and file permission issues.

Description

FastNetMon Community Edition through 1.2.9 is vulnerable to a local symlink attack via predictable file paths in /tmp. The statistics file path defaults to '/tmp/fastnetmon.dat' (src/fastnetmon.cpp line 159). The print_screen_contents_into_file() function (src/fastnetmon_logic.cpp line 2186) opens this path with std::ios::trunc without checking for symlinks or using O_NOFOLLOW. Additionally, the chmod() call on line 2190 always operates on cli_stats_file_path regardless of which file_path parameter was passed (a bug that applies wrong permissions), and the umask is set to 0 during daemonization (src/fastnetmon.cpp line 1821), making all created files world-writable. A local attacker can exploit this to overwrite arbitrary files as the FastNetMon process user (typically root).

Impact

The vulnerability allows a local attacker with limited privileges to overwrite arbitrary files on the system as the FastNetMon process user, which is typically root. This can lead to unauthorized modification of critical files, potentially enabling privilege escalation or disruption of system operations. There is no indication of confidentiality or availability impact, and no known exploits in the wild have been reported.

Summary

CVE-2026-48693 describes a local symlink attack vulnerability in FastNetMon Community Edition through version 1.2.9. The software uses a predictable file path (/tmp/fastnetmon.dat) for statistics output and opens this file with truncation mode without checking for symbolic links or using secure flags like O_NOFOLLOW. Additionally, a bug causes chmod to apply incorrect permissions, and the daemon sets umask to 0, resulting in world-writable files. These factors combined allow a local attacker to exploit the vulnerability to overwrite arbitrary files with the privileges of the FastNetMon process user, typically root.

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

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 2 Jun 2026, 21:29 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-59

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats