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OpencryptokiApplication · Opencryptoki Project

CVE-2026-23893

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-22
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Patch available

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
openCryptoki is a PKCS#11 library and provides tooling for Linux and AIX. Versions 2.3.2 and above are vulnerable to symlink-following when running in privileged contexts. A token-group user can redirect file operations to arbitrary filesystem targets by planting symlinks in group-writable token directories, resulting in privilege escalation or data exposure. Token and lock directories are 0770 (group-writable for token users), so any token-group member can plant files and symlinks inside them. When run as root, the base code handling token directory file access, as well as several openCryptoki tools used for administrative purposes, may reset ownership or permissions on existing files inside the token directories. An attacker with token-group membership can exploit the system when an administrator runs a PKCS#11 application or administrative tool that performs chown on files inside the token directory during normal maintenance. This issue is fixed in commit 5e6e4b4, but has not been included in a released version at the time of publication.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-59

A file operation follows a symbolic link without checking where it actually points, so an attacker who can plant or swap a link redirects the operation to a file they should not be able to touch. It is a common local privilege-escalation primitive. Remediation is resolving and validating the real target path, and avoiding operations on attacker-controllable links.

General guidance for the link following (symlink) class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
OpencryptokiApplication
Affected:>= 2.3.2

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
Low

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

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence
  1. Clone or navigate to the opencryptoki repository: git clone https://github.com/opencryptoki/opencryptoki.git
  2. Checkout the affected version (or current HEAD if already >= 2.3.2)
  3. Apply the vendor patch from commit 5e6e4b42f2b1fcc1e4ef1b920e463bfa55da8b45 using: git cherry-pick 5e6e4b4 or git fetch origin 5e6e4b4 && git merge 5e6e4b4
  4. Rebuild opencryptoki according to the project's build instructions
  5. Redeploy the updated binaries to all systems running opencryptoki in privileged contexts
  6. Verify the fix by reviewing the changes in the token directory handling code (files: typically in usr/lib/pkcs11 or usr/sbin depending on distribution)

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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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-2026-23893 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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