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Link Following (Symlink)Weakness · CWE-59

CVE-2026-6959

MEDIUM · 6.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
HashiCorp Nomad and Nomad Enterprise prior to 2.0.1 are vulnerable to arbitrary file read and write on the client host as the Nomad process user through a symlink attack. This vulnerability (CVE-2026-6959) is fixed in Nomad 2.0.1, 1.11.5 and 1.10.11.

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

HashiCorp Nomad and Nomad Enterprise prior to version 2.0.1 (and 1.11.5/1.10.11) contain a symlink attack vulnerability allowing arbitrary file read and write on the client host with the privileges of the Nomad process user.

MitigationUpgrade Nomad to version 2.0.1, 1.11.5, or 1.10.11 to patch this vulnerability.

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify Nomad installation and version
    Run 'nomad version' to get the installed version. If not in PATH, check common locations like /usr/local/bin/nomad, /opt/nomad/nomad, or via 'which nomad'.
    Affected if Version is lower than 1.10.11, 1.11.5, or 2.0.1 (e.g., 1.10.10, 1.11.4, 1.9.x)
  2. Determine if Nomad client mode is enabled
    Check the Nomad configuration file (default: /etc/nomad.d/nomad.hcl or /etc/nomad.conf) for the 'client' stanza or run 'nomad node status' to see if client nodes are registered.
    Affected if Client mode is enabled and the Nomad version is vulnerable (the flaw affects client hosts)
  3. Verify the client data directory permissions
    Check the Nomad client data directory (default: /opt/nomad/data or specified via 'data_dir' in config) for overly permissive permissions or verify the directory owner matches the Nomad process user.
    Affected if The client data directory is writable by the Nomad process and the version is vulnerable (symlink attack could be performed)
  4. Check for task directory configurations
    Inspect the Nomad client configuration for 'task_dir' or 'chroot' settings, and review any job specifications that use host volume mounts or bind mounts.
    Affected if Bind mounts or host volume access is configured on a vulnerable client version

The environment is affected if a Nomad client (not server-only) is running with a version lower than 1.10.11, 1.11.5, or 2.0.1, allowing a malicious actor to exploit symlink handling for arbitrary file access.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Nomad to version 2.0.1, 1.11.5, or 1.10.11 to patch this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Nomad 2.0.1 (or 1.11.5 for 1.11.x users, or 1.10.11 for 1.10.x users)

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Nomad version using 'nomad version' command
  2. 2. Determine which upgrade path applies: if running 1.10.x upgrade to 1.10.11; if running 1.11.x upgrade to 1.11.5; if running 2.0.x upgrade to 2.0.1
  3. 3. Download the appropriate Nomad binary from https://www.nomadproject.io/downloads
  4. 4. Stop the Nomad agent service on all client and server nodes
  5. 5. Replace the existing Nomad binary with the new version
  6. 6. Verify the binary integrity using SHA256 checksums provided on the downloads page
  7. 7. Restart the Nomad agent service
  8. 8. Verify the upgrade by running 'nomad version' to confirm the new version is running
Caveat Patch upgrades within the same minor version are typically low-risk; review Nomad 1.10.11, 1.11.5, and 2.0.1 release notes for any specific notes

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2026-6959 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data