CVE-2026-54371
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 · uneditedattr before version 2.6.0 contains a symlink traversal vulnerability in the getfattr and setfattr utilities that allows local attackers to escalate privileges by replacing a pathname component with a symbolic link during directory hierarchy traversal. Attackers who control a pathname component can redirect getfattr and setfattr operations to arbitrary files by substituting a symlink, leading to local privilege escalation when getfattr or setfattr is invoked by a privileged process over an attacker-controlled path.
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 · moderate confidenceThe attr library before version 2.6.0 has a symlink traversal vulnerability in getfattr and setfattr utilities. Local attackers can replace pathname components with symbolic links during directory traversal, redirecting these utilities to access or modify arbitrary files. When a privileged process uses these tools over an attacker-controlled path, privilege escalation becomes possible.
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
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed attr package versionRun 'rpm -q attr' (RHEL/CentOS), 'dpkg -l attr' (Debian), or check via package manager specific to your Linux distribution. Alternatively, run 'getfattr --version' or 'setfattr --version' to see the version string.Affected if The version displayed is earlier than 2.6.0 or the package is not found (but getfattr/setfattr binaries exist from an older installation)
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Verify getfattr and setfattr binaries existRun 'which getfattr' and 'which setfattr' to locate these utilities. These are part of the attr package and are the vulnerable components.Affected if These binaries exist on the system and are from a version before 2.6.0
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Check if binaries have setuid or setgid permissionsRun 'ls -l $(which getfattr) $(which setfattr)' to examine file permissions. Look for 's' in the owner or group execute fields.Affected if Either binary has setuid or setgid bits set, meaning privilege escalation via this CVE is theoretically possible
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Audit scripts invoking these utilities on user-controlled pathsSearch common script locations (e.g., /etc/cron.d, /usr/local/bin, application directories) for usage of 'getfattr' or 'setfattr' with variable paths. Use: 'grep -r "getfattr\|setfattr" /path/to/scripts | grep -v "^#"'Affected if Scripts or automated processes invoke getfattr/setfattaron paths that could be influenced by untrusted local users
A user is affected if attr version earlier than 2.6.0 is installed AND the getfattr/setfattr utilities are present, particularly if used in contexts where untrusted local users can manipulate directory paths.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade attr to version 2.6.0 or later. Review and audit any scripts or automated processes that invoke getfattr/setfattr on user-controlled paths.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-54371 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-54371 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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