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Vulnerability · Published Feb 11, 2026 · Assigned by redhat

CVE-2026-26158Busybox: busybox: arbitrary file modification and privilege escalation via unvalidated tar archive entries

High 7.0

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 from Red Hat. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 9% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.0High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 91.0% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

A flaw was found in BusyBox. This vulnerability allows an attacker to modify files outside of the intended extraction directory by crafting a malicious tar archive containing unvalidated hardlink or symlink entries. If the tar archive is extracted with elevated privileges, this flaw can lead to privilege escalation, enabling an attacker to gain unauthorized access to critical system files.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12busyboxno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2026-26158
Debian:13busyboxno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2026-26158
Debian:14busybox1:1.37.0-10.1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-26158
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSbusyboxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-26158
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSbusyboxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-26158
Ubuntu:25.10busyboxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-26158
Ubuntu:26.04:LTSbusyboxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-26158
Ubuntu:26.10busyboxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-26158

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Red Hat Red Hat Hardened Images see references
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 see references

Weakness: CWE-73 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References