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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-22702: Virtualenvwrapper · virtualenv Has TOCTOU Vulnerabilities in Directory Creation

Affects virtualenvwrapperSource GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-22702· Medium 4.5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.5 Medium : upgrade to 6.1.1_2 or 4.8.4_2 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 06:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
4.5Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 0% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 6.1.1_2, 4.8.4_2
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 10 Jan 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 29 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade virtualenvwrapper to 6.1.1_2 or 4.8.4_2.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Homebrewvirtualenvwrapperpkg:brew/virtualenvwrapperOther threatsAffected
  • >=4.8.4 <4.8.4_2
  • >=6.1.0 <6.1.1_2
Fixed in
  • 4.8.4_2
  • 6.1.1_2

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

AI-suggested

A patch is available and users should upgrade to virtualenv version 20.36.2 or later, which fixes the vulnerability by using atomic directory creation. If immediate upgrade is not possible, users should ensure that VIRTUALENV_OVERRIDE_APP_DATA points to a directory owned by the current user with permissions set to 0700, avoid running virtualenv in shared temporary directories writable by other users, and use separate user accounts to isolate app_data directories.

Description

CVE-2026-22702 is a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) vulnerability in virtualenv affecting directory creation operations. Local attackers on multi-user systems can exploit a race condition to perform symlink-based attacks, potentially causing cache poisoning, information disclosure, lock bypass, or denial of service. The issue affects all versions up to and including 20.36.1. The vulnerability is fixed in version 20.36.2 and later by using atomic directory creation calls.

References

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