Vulnerability · Published Apr 9, 2026 · Assigned by redhat
CVE-2026-4878Libcap: libcap: privilege escalation via toctou race condition in cap_set_file()
Medium 6.7
In plain English
A medium-severity security flaw in Cert Manager support for Red Hat OpenShift release 1.17 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 11% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
A flaw was found in libcap. A local unprivileged user can exploit a Time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in the `cap_set_file()` function. This allows an attacker with write access to a parent directory to redirect file capability updates to an attacker-controlled file. By doing so, capabilities can be injected into or stripped from unintended executables, leading to privilege escalation.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| AlmaLinux:10 | libcap | 2.69-7.el10_1.1 | ALSA-2026:12423 |
| AlmaLinux:10 | libcap | 2.69-7.el10_2.1 | ALSA-2026:19130 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | libcap | 2.48-6.el8_10.1 | ALSA-2026:13285 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | libcap | 2.48-10.el9_7.1 | ALSA-2026:12441 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | libcap | 2.48-10.el9_8.1 | ALSA-2026:19346 |
| AlmaLinux:10 | libcap-devel | 2.69-7.el10_2.1 | ALSA-2026:19130 |
| AlmaLinux:10 | libcap-devel | 2.69-7.el10_1.1 | ALSA-2026:12423 |
| AlmaLinux:8 | libcap-devel | 2.48-6.el8_10.1 | ALSA-2026:13285 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | libcap-devel | 2.48-10.el9_7.1 | ALSA-2026:12441 |
| AlmaLinux:9 | libcap-devel | 2.48-10.el9_8.1 | ALSA-2026:19346 |
| Alpine:v3.20 | libcap | 2.78-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Alpine:v3.21 | libcap | 2.78-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Alpine:v3.22 | libcap | 2.78-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Alpine:v3.23 | libcap | 2.78-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Alpine:v3.24 | libcap | 2.78-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Debian:12 | libcap2 | 1:2.66-4+deb12u3 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Debian:13 | libcap2 | 1:2.75-10+deb13u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Debian:14 | libcap2 | 1:2.78-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Rocky Linux:10 | libcap | 0:2.69-7.el10_1.1 | RLSA-2026:19130 |
| Rocky Linux:10 | libcap | 0:2.69-7.el10_1.1 | RLSA-2026:12423 |
| Rocky Linux:8 | libcap | 0:2.48-6.el8_10.1 | RLSA-2026:13285 |
| Rocky Linux:9 | libcap | 0:2.48-10.el9_7.1 | RLSA-2026:19346 |
| Rocky Linux:9 | libcap | 0:2.48-10.el9_7.1 | RLSA-2026:12441 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | libcap2 | 1:2.44-1ubuntu0.22.04.3 | USN-8193-1 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | libcap2 | 1:2.44-1ubuntu0.22.04.3 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | libcap2 | 1:2.66-5ubuntu2.4 | USN-8193-1 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | libcap2 | 1:2.66-5ubuntu2.4 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-4878 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | libcap2 | 1:2.75-7ubuntu2.2 | USN-8193-1 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | libcap2 | 1:2.75-7ubuntu2.2 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-4878 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-367 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
References
- RHSA-2026:12423 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:12441 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:13285 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:14162 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:14937 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:19130 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:19346 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:19456 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:19458 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:20595 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:21254 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:21275 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:22634 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:22957 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:23233 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:23245 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:24346 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:25044 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:25096 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:25181 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:26542 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:27998 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:28887 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:29197 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:30078 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:30087 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:30088 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:30089 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:34098 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:39981 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:58981 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:59831 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:72502 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:74674 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:7473 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:82304 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:82322 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:82347 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:82354 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2026:82372 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT