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Link Following (Symlink)Weakness · CWE-59

CVE-2026-26225

HIGH · 8.5 CVSS v4.0 Published 2026-02-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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
Intego Personal Backup, a macOS backup utility that allows users to create scheduled backups and bootable system clones, contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability. Backup task definitions are stored in a location writable by non-privileged users while being processed with elevated privileges. By crafting a malicious serialized task file, a local attacker can trigger arbitrary file writes to sensitive system locations, leading to privilege escalation to root.

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

Intego Personal Backup stores backup task definitions in a location writable by non-privileged users, but processes these files with elevated privileges. A local attacker can craft a malicious serialized task file to trigger arbitrary file writes to sensitive system locations, achieving root privilege escalation.

MitigationRestrict write access to the backup task definition directory to privileged users only, and implement strict input validation and secure deserialization before processing task files with elevated privileges.

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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 if Intego Personal Backup is installed
    Search for Intego Personal Backup in /Applications (macOS) or Program Files (Windows). Look for the application bundle or executable.
    Affected if The software is not installed on the system.
  2. Locate the backup task definition directory
    Search for files with common task definition extensions such as .task, .pbtask, .ibp, or serialized task files (.plist, .xml) within the application support or preferences folders. Typical paths include ~/Library/Application Support/Intego/ or /Library/Application Support/Intego/ on macOS.
    Affected if Task definition files exist and are found in user-accessible directories.
  3. Verify directory permissions on the task storage location
    Run ls -la (macOS/Linux) or icacls (Windows) on the directory where task files are stored. Check if write permissions are granted to standard users or the everyone/group permissions.
    Affected if The directory is writable by non-privileged or non-owner users (permissions show write access for group or others).
  4. Identify task files and check their serialization format
    Examine task definition files found in the directory. Look for serialized objects, encoded binary plist files, or custom task file formats that could contain malicious payloads.
    Affected if Task files use serialized data formats (binary plist, custom serialization) that could be crafted to trigger arbitrary file writes.
  5. Confirm the application runs with elevated privileges
    Review the application launch configuration, startup items, or scheduled tasks to determine if Intego Personal Backup executes with root or administrator privileges.
    Affected if The application is configured to run with elevated (root/administrator) privileges.

If Intego Personal Backup is installed, stores task definitions in a directory writable by non-privileged users, and runs with elevated privileges, the environment is vulnerable to local privilege escalation via malicious task file injection.

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

Restrict write access to the backup task definition directory to privileged users only, and implement strict input validation and secure deserialization before processing task files with elevated privileges.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2026-26225 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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