CVE-2026-72694

Mrtg: mrtg daemon symlink-following chown allows local privilege escalation via pid file path manipulation

Published Aug 11, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.1 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
A flaw was found in MRTG. When the MRTG daemon is started as a root user and subsequently drops privileges, a local, low-privileged attacker can exploit a symbolic link (symlink) following vulnerability. By influencing or pre-placing a symlink in the process ID (PID) file path, the attacker can trick the root process into changing the ownership of an arbitrary existing file to the daemon user. This can lead to local privilege escalation, allowing unauthorized access to or modification of sensitive files.

Remediation

Vendor Workaround

To mitigate this issue, avoid starting the MRTG daemon as root with the `--daemon` option. Instead, configure MRTG to run directly as an unprivileged user. If root startup is strictly necessary, ensure that the PID file and its directory are owned by root and are not writable by unprivileged users, and prevent untrusted users from influencing the `--pid-file` path. Changes to service configuration may require a service restart to take effect.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat rhel Els
CPEs cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:6
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:7
Vendors & Products Redhat rhel Els
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat rhel Tus
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_aus:8.4::appstream
cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_e4s:8.8::appstream
cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_e4s:9.2::appstream
cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_eus_long_life:8.4::appstream
cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_tus:8.8::appstream
Vendors & Products Redhat rhel Tus
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat rhel Aus
Redhat rhel E4s
Redhat rhel Eus Long Life
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_aus:8.6::appstream
cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_e4s:9.4::appstream
cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_eus_long_life:8.6::appstream
Vendors & Products Redhat rhel Aus
Redhat rhel E4s
Redhat rhel Eus Long Life
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat rhel Eus
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:rhel_eus:9.6::appstream
Vendors & Products Redhat rhel Eus
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat enterprise Linux Eus
CPEs cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:10.0
Vendors & Products Redhat enterprise Linux Eus
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8 cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9 cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10 cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10.2
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Mrtgconfig
Mrtgconfig mrtg
Vendors & Products Mrtgconfig
Mrtgconfig mrtg
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A flaw was found in MRTG. When the MRTG daemon is started as a root user and subsequently drops privileges, a local, low-privileged attacker can exploit a symbolic link (symlink) following vulnerability. By influencing or pre-placing a symlink in the process ID (PID) file path, the attacker can trick the root process into changing the ownership of an arbitrary existing file to the daemon user. This can lead to local privilege escalation, allowing unauthorized access to or modification of sensitive files.
Title Mrtg: mrtg daemon symlink-following chown allows local privilege escalation via pid file path manipulation
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Weaknesses CWE-59
CPEs cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
redhat
Published
Updated
Nov 4, 2026, 11:14 PM
Reserved
Aug 10, 2026, 12:35 PM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Aug 11, 2026, 9:17 AM
Modified
Nov 5, 2026, 12:17 AM
Severity
Important
Public date
Aug 11, 2026, 7:28 AM