CVE-2026-79655

Sos: sos: path traversal in sos clean tar extraction via unvalidated symlink/hardlink targets leads to arbitrary file write

Published Aug 25, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.8 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
A flaw was found in sos clean, a utility within the sos package. This vulnerability allows a local attacker to perform arbitrary file creation or overwrite. By crafting a malicious tar archive, an attacker can exploit a path traversal issue during tar extraction, where symlink and hardlink targets are not properly validated. This enables the attacker to write files to arbitrary locations on the system with the privileges of the sos clean process, which often runs as root.

Remediation

Vendor Workaround

To mitigate this issue, avoid using the `sos clean` utility to extract tar archives from untrusted or unknown sources. This vulnerability requires user interaction to process a specially crafted archive.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:10 cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10.3
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Red Hat
Red Hat enterprise Linux
Vendors & Products Red Hat
Red Hat enterprise Linux
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9 cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9::baseos
References
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat rhel Els
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
cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:6
cpe:/o:redhat:rhel_els:7
Vendors & Products Redhat rhel Els
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A flaw was found in sos clean, a utility within the sos package. This vulnerability allows a local attacker to perform arbitrary file creation or overwrite. By crafting a malicious tar archive, an attacker can exploit a path traversal issue during tar extraction, where symlink and hardlink targets are not properly validated. This enables the attacker to write files to arbitrary locations on the system with the privileges of the sos clean process, which often runs as root.
Title Sos: sos: path traversal in sos clean tar extraction via unvalidated symlink/hardlink targets leads to arbitrary file write
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': 7.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
redhat
Published
Updated
Nov 11, 2026, 8:36 AM
Reserved
Aug 25, 2026, 10:58 AM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Aug 25, 2026, 2:16 PM
Modified
Nov 11, 2026, 9:17 AM
Severity
Important
Public date
Aug 21, 2026, 8:00 AM