Vulnerability · Published Sep 10, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-88016rclone: Directory metadata (chmod/chown/chtimes) applied through a planted symlink in rclone local --links escapes the destination

High 7.1

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in rclone from rclone. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 8% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.1High

Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 91.6% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: poc

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

rclone is a command-line program to sync files and directories to and from different cloud storage providers. Prior to 1.75.1, when backend/local runs with --links, a source .rclonelink object can plant a symlink in the destination and later directory metadata is applied through that path. MkdirMetadata, writeMetadataToFile, and setTimes operate when Directory.translatedLink=false, so os.Chown, os.Chmod, os.Chtimes, and birth-time handling can bypass os.Root confinement and follow the symlink. An attacker controlling source contents can therefore apply selected ownership, permissions, modification times, or birth times to a file or directory outside the destination, with --metadata required for chmod and chown while modification time is applied by the normal directory workflow. This issue is fixed in version 1.75.1.

Affected packages & fixed versions

Ecosystem	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Debian:12	rclone	no fix listed	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-88016
Debian:13	rclone	no fix listed	DEBIAN-CVE-2026-88016
Go	github.com/rclone/rclone	1.75.1	GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh
Go	github.com/rclone/rclone	1.75.1	GO-2026-6459
Ubuntu:26.10	rclone	no fix listed	UBUNTU-CVE-2026-88016

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
rclone	rclone	< 1.75.1

Weakness: CWE-59, CWE-281 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:H/A:L

References

https://github.com/rclone/rclone/security/advisories/GHSA-f8g7-2xjc-7mfh x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/rclone/rclone/commit/17b0c03338a857bcb0a68d2d4c82ddbdec3f7893 x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/rclone/rclone/commit/a7ab39d3d1958afa1446982c1dc4e4a73a887e3e x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/rclone/rclone/releases/tag/v1.75.1 x_refsource_MISC