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Link Following (Symlink)Weakness · CWE-59

CVE-2026-14904

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click 6 weeks old

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
AWS Research and Engineering Studio (RES) is an open-source solution that enables researchers and engineers to create and manage secure virtual desktops and computing resources on AWS. Improper link resolution before file access issue (CWE-59) in the Auth.GetUserPrivateKey API. An authenticated remote user could read arbitrary files on the cluster-manager EC2 instance by replacing their SSH private key file (~/.ssh/id_rsa) with a symbolic link targeting any file on the host. Because the cluster-manager process runs as root, any file readable by root is exposed, including other users' SSH private keys and application configuration secrets. It's recommended to upgrade to RES version 2026.06.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

This is a symlink following vulnerability in the Auth.GetUserPrivateKey API. An authenticated user can replace their SSH private key file (~/.ssh/id_rsa) with a symbolic link pointing to any file on the host system. When the API reads the file, it follows the symlink (since it runs as root) and returns the contents of the target file, allowing arbitrary file disclosure including other users' SSH keys and secrets.

MitigationUpgrade to RES version 2026.06 which addresses the improper link resolution. As a temporary mitigation, restrict which files the cluster-manager process can read or monitor for symlink creation in user .ssh directories.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed RES version
    Run the command to retrieve the product version (for example: resctl --version, res --version, or check /opt/res/version depending on the installation). Compare the version number to 2026.06.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 2026.06 (for example, 2026.05 or earlier).
  2. Verify Auth.GetUserPrivateKey API availability
    Check if the Auth.GetUserPrivateKey API endpoint is exposed. This may be visible in the API documentation, configuration files (such as res-api.conf or auth-config.xml), or by attempting to access the endpoint with valid authentication credentials.
    Affected if The API endpoint exists and is accessible to authenticated users in the current deployment.
  3. Confirm user write access to .ssh directories
    Inspect the permissions on user .ssh directories. Run: ls -la ~ | grep .ssh and check each user's ~/.ssh directory for write permissions. Also check for any system-wide configuration allowing symlink creation in these directories.
    Affected if Authenticated users have write access to their own ~/.ssh directories and can create or replace the id_rsa file with a symlink.
  4. Check for existing symlinks in .ssh directories
    Run: find /home/*/.ssh -type l -ls 2>/dev/null to list any symbolic links within .ssh directories. Also check the target of id_rsa files: ls -la ~/.ssh/id_rsa to see if they are symlinks.
    Affected if Any symbolic links exist in user .ssh directories, or ~/.ssh/id_rsa is a symlink pointing to a target outside the user's authorized path.

You are affected if the RES version is below 2026.06 AND the Auth.GetUserPrivateKey API is accessible to authenticated users who can write to their ~/.ssh directories.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to RES version 2026.06 which addresses the improper link resolution. As a temporary mitigation, restrict which files the cluster-manager process can read or monitor for symlink creation in user .ssh directories.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-14904 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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