CWE-59
Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
Common consequences2
- ConfidentialityIntegrityAccess ControlRead Files or DirectoriesModify Files or DirectoriesBypass Protection Mechanism
An attacker may be able to traverse the file system to unintended locations and read or overwrite the contents of unexpected files. If the files are used for a security mechanism then an attacker may be able to bypass the mechanism.
- OtherExecute Unauthorized Code or Commands
Windows simple shortcuts, sometimes referred to as soft links, can be exploited remotely since a ".LNK" file can be uploaded like a normal file. This can enable remote execution.
Potential mitigations1
- Architecture and Design
Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system. Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.
CVEs referencing this CWE121
| CVE | Description | Severity | EPSS | Flags | Modified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2022-30333 | RARLAB UnRAR before 6.12 on Linux and UNIX allows directory traversal to write to files during an extract (aka unpack) operation, as demonstrated by creating a ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file. NOTE: WinRAR and Android RAR are unaffected. | HIGH7.5 | 99%p100 | KEV+RWeaponized | 2025-11-03 |
| CVE-2021-21300 | Git is an open-source distributed revision control system. In affected versions of Git a specially crafted repository that contains symbolic links as well as files using a clean/smudge filter such as Git LFS, may cause just-checked out script to be executed while cloning onto a case-insensitive file system such as NTFS, HFS+ or APFS (i.e. the default file systems on Windows and macOS). Note that clean/smudge filters have to be configured for that. Git for Windows configures Git LFS by default, and is therefore vulnerable. The problem has been patched in the versions published on Tuesday, March 9th, 2021. As a workaound, if symbolic link support is disabled in Git (e.g. via `git config --global core.symlinks false`), the described attack won't work. Likewise, if no clean/smudge filters such as Git LFS are configured globally (i.e. _before_ cloning), the attack is foiled. As always, it is best to avoid cloning repositories from untrusted sources. The earliest impacted version is 2.14.2. The fix versions are: 2.30.1, 2.29.3, 2.28.1, 2.27.1, 2.26.3, 2.25.5, 2.24.4, 2.23.4, 2.22.5, 2.21.4, 2.20.5, 2.19.6, 2.18.5, 2.17.62.17.6. | HIGH7.5 | 89%p100 | Weaponized | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-2021-32610 | In Archive_Tar before 1.4.14, symlinks can refer to targets outside of the extracted archive, a different vulnerability than CVE-2020-36193. | HIGH7.1 | 73%p99 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-36193 | Tar.php in Archive_Tar through 1.4.11 allows write operations with Directory Traversal due to inadequate checking of symbolic links, a related issue to CVE-2020-28948. | HIGH7.5 | 71%p99 | KEV | 2025-11-07 |
| CVE-2023-40028 | Ghost is an open source content management system. Versions prior to 5.59.1 are subject to a vulnerability which allows authenticated users to upload files that are symlinks. This can be exploited to perform an arbitrary file read of any file on the host operating system. Site administrators can check for exploitation of this issue by looking for unknown symlinks within Ghost's `content/` folder. Version 5.59.1 contains a fix for this issue. All users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. | MEDIUM6.5 | 58%p99 | PoC | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-2020-0787 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) improperly handles symbolic links, aka 'Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. | HIGH7.8 | 43%p99 | KEV+RWeaponized | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2022-21999 | Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.8 | 42%p99 | KEV+RWeaponized | 2025-10-30 |
| CVE-2019-0841 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC) improperly handles hard links, aka 'Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2019-0730, CVE-2019-0731, CVE-2019-0796, CVE-2019-0805, CVE-2019-0836. | HIGH7.8 | 42%p99 | KEV+RWeaponized | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2023-36874 | Windows Error Reporting Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.8 | 32%p98 | KEVWeaponized | 2025-10-28 |
| CVE-2019-0572 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Data Sharing Service improperly handles file operations, aka "Windows Data Sharing Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows Server 2016, Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 10 Servers. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2019-0571, CVE-2019-0573, CVE-2019-0574. | NONE | 25%p98 | Functional | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-2024-32002 | Git is a revision control system. Prior to versions 2.45.1, 2.44.1, 2.43.4, 2.42.2, 2.41.1, 2.40.2, and 2.39.4, repositories with submodules can be crafted in a way that exploits a bug in Git whereby it can be fooled into writing files not into the submodule's worktree but into a `.git/` directory. This allows writing a hook that will be executed while the clone operation is still running, giving the user no opportunity to inspect the code that is being executed. The problem has been patched in versions 2.45.1, 2.44.1, 2.43.4, 2.42.2, 2.41.1, 2.40.2, and 2.39.4. If symbolic link support is disabled in Git (e.g. via `git config --global core.symlinks false`), the described attack won't work. As always, it is best to avoid cloning repositories from untrusted sources. | CRITICAL9.0 | 23%p97 | PoC | 2025-11-04 |
| CVE-2021-41379 | Windows Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.8 | 20%p97 | KEV+R | 2025-10-30 |
| CVE-2024-53691 | A link following vulnerability has been reported to affect several QNAP operating system versions. If exploited, the vulnerability could allow remote attackers who have gained user access to traverse the file system to unintended locations. We have already fixed the vulnerability in the following versions: QTS 5.1.8.2823 build 20240712 and later QTS 5.2.0.2802 build 20240620 and later QuTS hero h5.1.8.2823 build 20240712 and later QuTS hero h5.2.0.2802 build 20240620 and later | HIGH8.8 | 20%p97 | PoC | 2025-09-23 |
| CVE-2019-0574 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Data Sharing Service improperly handles file operations, aka "Windows Data Sharing Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows Server 2016, Windows 10, Windows Server 2019, Windows 10 Servers. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2019-0571, CVE-2019-0572, CVE-2019-0573. | NONE | 19%p97 | Functional | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-1999-1593 | Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (connectivity loss) or steal credentials via a 1Ch registration that causes WINS to change the domain controller to point to a malicious server. NOTE: this problem may be limited when Windows 95/98 clients are used, or if the primary domain controller becomes unavailable. | NONE | 18%p97 | 2026-04-23 | |
| CVE-2019-1280 | A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Windows that could allow remote code execution if a .LNK file is processed.An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user, aka 'LNK Remote Code Execution Vulnerability'. | HIGH7.8 | 18%p97 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2022-22582 | A validation issue existed in the handling of symlinks. This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in Security Update 2022-003 Catalina, macOS Big Sur 11.6.5, macOS Monterey 12.3. A local user may be able to write arbitrary files. | MEDIUM5.5 | 18%p97 | PoC | 2025-03-11 |
| CVE-2018-14335 | An issue was discovered in H2 1.4.197. Insecure handling of permissions in the backup function allows attackers to read sensitive files (outside of their permissions) via a symlink to a fake database file. | MEDIUM6.5 | 13%p96 | PoC | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-2009-0473 | Open redirect vulnerability in the web interface in the Rockwell Automation ControlLogix 1756-ENBT/A EtherNet/IP Bridge Module allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites and conduct phishing attacks via unspecified vectors. | NONE | 13%p96 | PoC | 2026-04-23 |
| CVE-2019-1002101 | The kubectl cp command allows copying files between containers and the user machine. To copy files from a container, Kubernetes creates a tar inside the container, copies it over the network, and kubectl unpacks it on the user’s machine. If the tar binary in the container is malicious, it could run any code and output unexpected, malicious results. An attacker could use this to write files to any path on the user’s machine when kubectl cp is called, limited only by the system permissions of the local user. The untar function can both create and follow symbolic links. The issue is resolved in kubectl v1.11.9, v1.12.7, v1.13.5, and v1.14.0. | MEDIUM5.5 | 13%p96 | PoC | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-1999-0981 | Internet Explorer 5.01 and earlier allows a remote attacker to create a reference to a client window and use a server-side redirect to access local files via that window, aka "Server-side Page Reference Redirect." | NONE | 13%p96 | Functional | 2026-06-16 |
| CVE-2024-26158 | Microsoft Install Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.8 | 12%p96 | 2025-05-03 | |
| CVE-2019-1253 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows AppX Deployment Server improperly handles junctions.To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to gain execution on the victim system, aka 'Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2019-1215, CVE-2019-1278, CVE-2019-1303. | HIGH7.8 | 12%p95 | KEV+RPoC | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2017-1002101 | In Kubernetes versions 1.3.x, 1.4.x, 1.5.x, 1.6.x and prior to versions 1.7.14, 1.8.9 and 1.9.4 containers using subpath volume mounts with any volume type (including non-privileged pods, subject to file permissions) can access files/directories outside of the volume, including the host's filesystem. | NONE | 12%p95 | PoC | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-2017-2619 | Samba before versions 4.6.1, 4.5.7 and 4.4.11 are vulnerable to a malicious client using a symlink race to allow access to areas of the server file system not exported under the share definition. | HIGH7.5 | 11%p95 | Functional | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-2009-0347 | Open redirect vulnerability in cs.html in the Autonomy (formerly Verity) Ultraseek search engine allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites and conduct phishing attacks via the url parameter. | NONE | 10%p95 | Functional | 2026-04-23 |
| CVE-2015-1130 | The XPC implementation in Admin Framework in Apple OS X before 10.10.3 allows local users to bypass authentication and obtain admin privileges via unspecified vectors. | HIGH7.8 | 9.89%p95 | KEVWeaponized | 2026-04-21 |
| CVE-2010-3879 | FUSE, possibly 2.8.5 and earlier, allows local users to create mtab entries with arbitrary pathnames, and consequently unmount any filesystem, via a symlink attack on the parent directory of the mountpoint of a FUSE filesystem, a different vulnerability than CVE-2010-0789. | NONE | 9.85%p95 | Functional | 2026-04-29 |
| CVE-2008-4694 | Unspecified vulnerability in Opera before 9.60 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or execute arbitrary code via a redirect that specifies a crafted URL. | NONE | 9.75%p95 | Functional | 2026-04-23 |
| CVE-2010-3847 | elf/dl-load.c in ld.so in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) through 2.11.2, and 2.12.x through 2.12.1, does not properly handle a value of $ORIGIN for the LD_AUDIT environment variable, which allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted dynamic shared object (DSO) located in an arbitrary directory. | NONE | 8.75%p94 | Weaponized | 2026-04-29 |
| CVE-2021-21479 | In SCIMono before 0.0.19, it is possible for an attacker to inject and execute java expression compromising the availability and integrity of the system. | CRITICAL9.1 | 8.71%p94 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2023-35633 | Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.8 | 8.70%p94 | 2025-01-01 | |
| CVE-2023-36399 | Windows Storage Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.1 | 8.34%p94 | 2025-10-08 | |
| CVE-2018-12015 | In Perl through 5.26.2, the Archive::Tar module allows remote attackers to bypass a directory-traversal protection mechanism, and overwrite arbitrary files, via an archive file containing a symlink and a regular file with the same name. | NONE | 8.21%p94 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2021-21125 | Insufficient policy enforcement in File System API in Google Chrome on Windows prior to 88.0.4324.96 allowed a remote attacker to bypass filesystem restrictions via a crafted HTML page. | HIGH8.1 | 8.08%p94 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2021-21131 | Insufficient policy enforcement in File System API in Google Chrome prior to 88.0.4324.96 allowed a remote attacker to bypass filesystem restrictions via a crafted HTML page. | MEDIUM6.5 | 7.95%p94 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2021-32803 | The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 6.1.2, 5.0.7, 4.4.15, and 3.2.3 has an arbitrary File Creation/Overwrite vulnerability via insufficient symlink protection. `node-tar` aims to guarantee that any file whose location would be modified by a symbolic link is not extracted. This is, in part, achieved by ensuring that extracted directories are not symlinks. Additionally, in order to prevent unnecessary `stat` calls to determine whether a given path is a directory, paths are cached when directories are created. This logic was insufficient when extracting tar files that contained both a directory and a symlink with the same name as the directory. This order of operations resulted in the directory being created and added to the `node-tar` directory cache. When a directory is present in the directory cache, subsequent calls to mkdir for that directory are skipped. However, this is also where `node-tar` checks for symlinks occur. By first creating a directory, and then replacing that directory with a symlink, it was thus possible to bypass `node-tar` symlink checks on directories, essentially allowing an untrusted tar file to symlink into an arbitrary location and subsequently extracting arbitrary files into that location, thus allowing arbitrary file creation and overwrite. This issue was addressed in releases 3.2.3, 4.4.15, 5.0.7 and 6.1.2. | HIGH8.1 | 7.80%p94 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-0683 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the Windows Installer when MSI packages process symbolic links, aka 'Windows Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2020-0686. | HIGH7.8 | 7.67%p94 | KEVPoC | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2024-57728 | SimpleHelp remote support software v5.5.7 and before allows admin users to upload arbitrary files anywhere on the file system by uploading a crafted zip file (i.e. zip slip). This can be exploited to execute arbitrary code on the host in the context of the SimpleHelp server user. | HIGH7.2 | 7.55%p94 | KEV+R | 2026-04-25 |
| CVE-2019-11538 | In Pulse Secure Pulse Connect Secure version 9.0RX before 9.0R3.4, 8.3RX before 8.3R7.1, 8.2RX before 8.2R12.1, and 8.1RX before 8.1R15.1, an NFS problem could allow an authenticated attacker to access the contents of arbitrary files on the affected device. | HIGH7.7 | 7.43%p94 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2023-36391 | Local Security Authority Subsystem Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.8 | 7.24%p94 | 2025-01-01 | |
| CVE-2024-28189 | Judge0 is an open-source online code execution system. The application uses the UNIX chown command on an untrusted file within the sandbox. An attacker can abuse this by creating a symbolic link (symlink) to a file outside the sandbox, allowing the attacker to run chown on arbitrary files outside of the sandbox. This vulnerability is not impactful on it's own, but it can be used to bypass the patch for CVE-2024-28185 and obtain a complete sandbox escape. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.13.1. | CRITICAL10.0 | 7.21%p94 | Weaponized | 2026-04-15 |
| CVE-2024-28185 | Judge0 is an open-source online code execution system. The application does not account for symlinks placed inside the sandbox directory, which can be leveraged by an attacker to write to arbitrary files and gain code execution outside of the sandbox. When executing a submission, Judge0 writes a `run_script` to the sandbox directory. The security issue is that an attacker can create a symbolic link (symlink) at the path `run_script` before this code is executed, resulting in the `f.write` writing to an arbitrary file on the unsandboxed system. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to overwrite scripts on the system and gain code execution outside of the sandbox. | CRITICAL10.0 | 7.06%p93 | Weaponized | 2026-04-15 |
| CVE-2019-1064 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC) improperly handles hard links. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run processes in an elevated context. An attacker could then install programs; view, change or delete data. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and take control of an affected system. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Windows AppX Deployment Service handles hard links. | HIGH7.8 | 6.89%p93 | KEV+RPoC | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2023-36394 | Windows Search Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.0 | 6.72%p93 | 2025-10-08 | |
| CVE-2014-9512 | rsync 3.1.1 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a file in the synchronization path. | NONE | 6.50%p93 | 2026-05-06 | |
| CVE-2025-21204 | Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Windows Update Stack allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally. | HIGH7.8 | 6.39%p93 | PoC | 2026-02-13 |
| CVE-2019-1069 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way the Task Scheduler Service validates certain file operations. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain elevated privileges on a victim system. To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would require unprivileged code execution on a victim system. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correctly validating file operations. | HIGH7.8 | 6.17%p93 | KEV+RPoC | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2015-1196 | GNU patch 2.7.1 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack in a patch file. | NONE | 6.10%p92 | 2026-05-06 | |
| CVE-2018-10897 | A directory traversal issue was found in reposync, a part of yum-utils, where reposync fails to sanitize paths in remote repository configuration files. If an attacker controls a repository, they may be able to copy files outside of the destination directory on the targeted system via path traversal. If reposync is running with heightened privileges on a targeted system, this flaw could potentially result in system compromise via the overwriting of critical system files. Version 1.1.31 and older are believed to be affected. | HIGH8.1 | 5.73%p92 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-5738 | Grandstream GXP1600 series firmware 1.0.4.152 and below is vulnerable to authenticated remote command execution when an attacker uploads a specially crafted tar file to the HTTP /cgi-bin/upload_vpntar interface. | HIGH8.8 | 5.42%p92 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2018-1000073 | RubyGems version Ruby 2.2 series: 2.2.9 and earlier, Ruby 2.3 series: 2.3.6 and earlier, Ruby 2.4 series: 2.4.3 and earlier, Ruby 2.5 series: 2.5.0 and earlier, prior to trunk revision 62422 contains a Directory Traversal vulnerability in install_location function of package.rb that can result in path traversal when writing to a symlinked basedir outside of the root. This vulnerability appears to have been fixed in 2.7.6. | HIGH7.5 | 5.08%p91 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2015-8860 | The tar package before 2.0.0 for Node.js allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack in an archive. | HIGH7.5 | 4.91%p91 | 2026-05-13 | |
| CVE-2014-6407 | Docker before 1.3.2 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files and execute arbitrary code via a (1) symlink or (2) hard link attack in an image archive in a (a) pull or (b) load operation. | HIGH7.3 | 4.91%p91 | 2026-05-06 | |
| CVE-2016-9566 | base/logging.c in Nagios Core before 4.2.4 allows local users with access to an account in the nagios group to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the log file. NOTE: this can be leveraged by remote attackers using CVE-2016-9565. | NONE | 4.89%p91 | Functional | 2026-05-06 |
| CVE-2016-1247 | The nginx package before 1.6.2-5+deb8u3 on Debian jessie, the nginx packages before 1.4.6-1ubuntu3.6 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, before 1.10.0-0ubuntu0.16.04.3 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, and before 1.10.1-0ubuntu1.1 on Ubuntu 16.10, and the nginx ebuild before 1.10.2-r3 on Gentoo allow local users with access to the web server user account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the error log. | HIGH7.8 | 4.86%p91 | PoC | 2026-05-06 |
| CVE-2008-3261 | Open redirect vulnerability in claroline/redirector.php in Claroline before 1.8.10 allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites and conduct phishing attacks via a URL in the url parameter. | NONE | 4.85%p91 | Functional | 2026-04-23 |
| CVE-2015-3315 | Automatic Bug Reporting Tool (ABRT) allows local users to read, change the ownership of, or have other unspecified impact on arbitrary files via a symlink attack on (1) /var/tmp/abrt/*/maps, (2) /tmp/jvm-*/hs_error.log, (3) /proc/*/exe, (4) /etc/os-release in a chroot, or (5) an unspecified root directory related to librpm. | NONE | 4.82%p91 | Weaponized | 2026-05-13 |
| CVE-2025-60710 | Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Host Process for Windows Tasks allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally. | HIGH7.8 | 4.60%p90 | KEVPoC | 2026-04-14 |
| CVE-2018-1000544 | rubyzip gem rubyzip version 1.2.1 and earlier contains a Directory Traversal vulnerability in Zip::File component that can result in write arbitrary files to the filesystem. This attack appear to be exploitable via If a site allows uploading of .zip files , an attacker can upload a malicious file that contains symlinks or files with absolute pathnames "../" to write arbitrary files to the filesystem.. | CRITICAL9.8 | 4.50%p90 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-9682 | Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application versions 5.1 and earlier have a symlink vulnerability vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary file system write. | CRITICAL9.8 | 4.31%p90 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2021-28163 | In Eclipse Jetty 9.4.32 to 9.4.38, 10.0.0.beta2 to 10.0.1, and 11.0.0.beta2 to 11.0.1, if a user uses a webapps directory that is a symlink, the contents of the webapps directory is deployed as a static webapp, inadvertently serving the webapps themselves and anything else that might be in that directory. | LOW2.7 | 4.18%p90 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2022-23742 | Check Point Endpoint Security Client for Windows versions earlier than E86.40 copy files for forensics reports from a directory with low privileges. An attacker can replace those files with malicious or linked content, such as exploiting CVE-2020-0896 on unpatched systems or using symbolic links. | HIGH7.8 | 4.08%p89 | 2026-06-02 | |
| CVE-2022-26612 | In Apache Hadoop, The unTar function uses unTarUsingJava function on Windows and the built-in tar utility on Unix and other OSes. As a result, a TAR entry may create a symlink under the expected extraction directory which points to an external directory. A subsequent TAR entry may extract an arbitrary file into the external directory using the symlink name. This however would be caught by the same targetDirPath check on Unix because of the getCanonicalPath call. However on Windows, getCanonicalPath doesn't resolve symbolic links, which bypasses the check. unpackEntries during TAR extraction follows symbolic links which allows writing outside expected base directory on Windows. This was addressed in Apache Hadoop 3.2.3 | CRITICAL9.8 | 4.06%p89 | 2025-10-01 | |
| CVE-2019-13636 | In GNU patch through 2.7.6, the following of symlinks is mishandled in certain cases other than input files. This affects inp.c and util.c. | NONE | 3.93%p89 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2009-1867 | Adobe Flash Player before 9.0.246.0 and 10.x before 10.0.32.18, and Adobe AIR before 1.5.2, allows attackers to trick a user into (1) selecting a link or (2) completing a dialog, related to a "clickjacking vulnerability." | NONE | 3.93%p89 | 2026-04-23 | |
| CVE-2024-20656 | Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.8 | 3.91%p89 | PoC | 2025-05-03 |
| CVE-2016-9602 | Qemu before version 2.9 is vulnerable to an improper link following when built with the VirtFS. A privileged user inside guest could use this flaw to access host file system beyond the shared folder and potentially escalating their privileges on a host. | NONE | 3.84%p89 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2017-1000115 | Mercurial prior to version 4.3 is vulnerable to a missing symlink check that can malicious repositories to modify files outside the repository | HIGH7.5 | 3.84%p89 | 2026-05-13 | |
| CVE-2015-0556 | Open-source ARJ archiver 3.10.22 allows remote attackers to conduct directory traversal attacks via a symlink attack in an ARJ archive. | NONE | 3.84%p89 | 2026-05-06 | |
| CVE-2019-1188 | A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Windows that could allow remote code execution if a .LNK file is processed. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. The attacker could present to the user a removable drive, or remote share, that contains a malicious .LNK file and an associated malicious binary. When the user opens this drive(or remote share) in Windows Explorer, or any other application that parses the .LNK file, the malicious binary will execute code of the attacker’s choice, on the target system. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the processing of shortcut LNK references. | HIGH7.5 | 3.77%p89 | 2026-02-20 | |
| CVE-2018-5225 | In browser editing in Atlassian Bitbucket Server from version 4.13.0 before 5.4.8 (the fixed version for 4.13.0 through 5.4.7), 5.5.0 before 5.5.8 (the fixed version for 5.5.x), 5.6.0 before 5.6.5 (the fixed version for 5.6.x), 5.7.0 before 5.7.3 (the fixed version for 5.7.x), and 5.8.0 before 5.8.2 (the fixed version for 5.8.x), allows authenticated users to gain remote code execution using the in browser editing feature via editing a symbolic link within a repository. | NONE | 3.62%p88 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-9670 | Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application versions 5.1 and earlier have a symlink vulnerability vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to privilege escalation. | CRITICAL9.8 | 3.56%p88 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2016-6253 | mail.local in NetBSD versions 6.0 through 6.0.6, 6.1 through 6.1.5, and 7.0 allows local users to change ownership of or append data to arbitrary files on the target system via a symlink attack on the user mailbox. | NONE | 3.53%p88 | Weaponized | 2026-05-13 |
| CVE-2019-1385 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows AppX Deployment Extensions improperly performs privilege management, resulting in access to system files.To exploit this vulnerability, an authenticated attacker would need to run a specially crafted application to elevate privileges.The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how AppX Deployment Extensions manages privileges., aka 'Windows AppX Deployment Extensions Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. | HIGH7.8 | 3.48%p88 | KEV+R | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2019-1315 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows Error Reporting manager improperly handles hard links, aka 'Windows Error Reporting Manager Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2019-1339, CVE-2019-1342. | HIGH7.8 | 3.48%p88 | KEV+RPoC | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2000-0342 | Eudora 4.x allows remote attackers to bypass the user warning for executable attachments such as .exe, .com, and .bat by using a .lnk file that refers to the attachment, aka "Stealth Attachment." | HIGH7.5 | 3.45%p87 | Functional | 2026-06-16 |
| CVE-2025-21420 | Windows Disk Cleanup Tool Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.8 | 3.42%p87 | PoC | 2026-02-13 |
| CVE-2007-6061 | Audacity 1.3.2 creates a temporary directory with a predictable name without checking for previous existence of that directory, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (recording deadlock) by creating the directory before Audacity is run. NOTE: this issue can be leveraged to delete arbitrary files or directories via a symlink attack. | NONE | 3.41%p87 | 2026-04-23 | |
| CVE-2001-1043 | ArGoSoft FTP Server 1.2.2.2 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files and directories by uploading a .lnk (link) file that points to the target file. | HIGH7.5 | 3.32%p87 | 2026-06-16 | |
| CVE-2015-5287 | The abrt-hook-ccpp help program in Automatic Bug Reporting Tool (ABRT) before 2.7.1 allows local users with certain permissions to gain privileges via a symlink attack on a file with a predictable name, as demonstrated by /var/tmp/abrt/abrt-hax-coredump or /var/spool/abrt/abrt-hax-coredump. | NONE | 3.31%p87 | Weaponized | 2026-05-06 |
| CVE-2015-1038 | p7zip 9.20.1 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack in an archive. | NONE | 3.29%p87 | 2026-05-06 | |
| CVE-2001-1042 | Transsoft Broker 5.9.5.0 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files and directories by uploading a .lnk (link) file that points to the target file. | HIGH7.5 | 3.29%p87 | 2026-06-16 | |
| CVE-2019-16775 | Versions of the npm CLI prior to 6.13.3 are vulnerable to an Arbitrary File Write. It is possible for packages to create symlinks to files outside of thenode_modules folder through the bin field upon installation. A properly constructed entry in the package.json bin field would allow a package publisher to create a symlink pointing to arbitrary files on a user's system when the package is installed. This behavior is still possible through install scripts. This vulnerability bypasses a user using the --ignore-scripts install option. | MEDIUM6.5 | 3.27%p87 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-15932 | Overwolf before 0.149.2.30 mishandles Symbolic Links during updates, causing elevation of privileges. | HIGH8.8 | 3.25%p87 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2018-14651 | It was found that the fix for CVE-2018-10927, CVE-2018-10928, CVE-2018-10929, CVE-2018-10930, and CVE-2018-10926 was incomplete. A remote, authenticated attacker could use one of these flaws to execute arbitrary code, create arbitrary files, or cause denial of service on glusterfs server nodes via symlinks to relative paths. | NONE | 3.23%p87 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2009-0356 | Mozilla Firefox before 3.0.6 and SeaMonkey do not block links to the (1) about:plugins and (2) about:config URIs from .desktop files, which allows user-assisted remote attackers to bypass the Same Origin Policy and execute arbitrary code with chrome privileges via vectors involving the URL field in a Desktop Entry section of a .desktop file, related to representation of about: URIs as jar:file:// URIs. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2008-4582. | NONE | 3.23%p87 | 2026-04-23 | |
| CVE-2021-27229 | Mumble before 1.3.4 allows remote code execution if a victim navigates to a crafted URL on a server list and clicks on the Open Webpage text. | HIGH8.8 | 3.20%p86 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2026-25187 | Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Winlogon allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally. | HIGH7.8 | 3.18%p86 | 2026-05-26 | |
| CVE-2019-19695 | A privilege escalation vulnerability in Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac 2019 (v9.0.1379 and below) could potentially allow an attacker to create a symbolic link to a target file and modify it. | HIGH7.5 | 3.16%p86 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2018-20834 | A vulnerability was found in node-tar before version 4.4.2 (excluding version 2.2.2). An Arbitrary File Overwrite issue exists when extracting a tarball containing a hardlink to a file that already exists on the system, in conjunction with a later plain file with the same name as the hardlink. This plain file content replaces the existing file content. A patch has been applied to node-tar v2.2.2). | HIGH7.5 | 3.15%p86 | 2026-02-04 | |
| CVE-2019-1425 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Visual Studio fails to properly validate hardlinks while extracting archived files, aka 'Visual Studio Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. | MEDIUM6.5 | 3.12%p86 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2015-5705 | Argument injection vulnerability in devscripts before 2.15.7 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a crafted symlink and crafted filename. | NONE | 3.12%p86 | 2026-05-13 | |
| CVE-2016-6664 | mysqld_safe in Oracle MySQL through 5.5.51, 5.6.x through 5.6.32, and 5.7.x through 5.7.14; MariaDB; Percona Server before 5.5.51-38.2, 5.6.x before 5.6.32-78-1, and 5.7.x before 5.7.14-8; and Percona XtraDB Cluster before 5.5.41-37.0, 5.6.x before 5.6.32-25.17, and 5.7.x before 5.7.14-26.17, when using file-based logging, allows local users with access to the mysql account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on error logs and possibly other files. | HIGH7.0 | 3.08%p86 | PoC | 2026-05-06 |
| CVE-2021-37701 | The npm package "tar" (aka node-tar) before versions 4.4.16, 5.0.8, and 6.1.7 has an arbitrary file creation/overwrite and arbitrary code execution vulnerability. node-tar aims to guarantee that any file whose location would be modified by a symbolic link is not extracted. This is, in part, achieved by ensuring that extracted directories are not symlinks. Additionally, in order to prevent unnecessary stat calls to determine whether a given path is a directory, paths are cached when directories are created. This logic was insufficient when extracting tar files that contained both a directory and a symlink with the same name as the directory, where the symlink and directory names in the archive entry used backslashes as a path separator on posix systems. The cache checking logic used both `\` and `/` characters as path separators, however `\` is a valid filename character on posix systems. By first creating a directory, and then replacing that directory with a symlink, it was thus possible to bypass node-tar symlink checks on directories, essentially allowing an untrusted tar file to symlink into an arbitrary location and subsequently extracting arbitrary files into that location, thus allowing arbitrary file creation and overwrite. Additionally, a similar confusion could arise on case-insensitive filesystems. If a tar archive contained a directory at `FOO`, followed by a symbolic link named `foo`, then on case-insensitive file systems, the creation of the symbolic link would remove the directory from the filesystem, but _not_ from the internal directory cache, as it would not be treated as a cache hit. A subsequent file entry within the `FOO` directory would then be placed in the target of the symbolic link, thinking that the directory had already been created. These issues were addressed in releases 4.4.16, 5.0.8 and 6.1.7. The v3 branch of node-tar has been deprecated and did not receive patches for these issues. If you are still using a v3 release we recommend you update to a more recent version of node-tar. If this is not possible, a workaround is available in the referenced GHSA-9r2w-394v-53qc. | HIGH8.6 | 3.06%p86 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2022-30321 | go-getter up to 1.5.11 and 2.0.2 allowed arbitrary host access via go-getter path traversal, symlink processing, and command injection flaws. Fixed in 1.6.1 and 2.1.0. | HIGH8.6 | 3.05%p86 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2019-9949 | Western Digital My Cloud Cloud, Mirror Gen2, EX2 Ultra, EX2100, EX4100, DL2100, DL4100, PR2100 and PR4100 before firmware 2.31.183 are affected by a code execution (as root, starting from a low-privilege user session) vulnerability. The cgi-bin/webfile_mgr.cgi file allows arbitrary file write by abusing symlinks. Specifically, this occurs by uploading a tar archive that contains a symbolic link, then uploading another archive that writes a file to the link using the "cgi_untar" command. Other commands might also be susceptible. Code can be executed because the "name" parameter passed to the cgi_unzip command is not sanitized. | NONE | 3.05%p86 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2001-1386 | WFTPD 3.00 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files by uploading a (link) file that ends in a ".lnk." extension, which bypasses WFTPD's check for a ".lnk" extension. | HIGH7.5 | 3.04%p86 | 2026-06-16 | |
| CVE-2014-3627 | The YARN NodeManager daemon in Apache Hadoop 0.23.0 through 0.23.11 and 2.x before 2.5.2, when using Kerberos authentication, allows remote cluster users to change the permissions of certain files to world-readable via a symlink attack in a public tar archive, which is not properly handled during localization, related to distributed cache. | NONE | 3.00%p86 | 2026-05-06 | |
| CVE-2008-2311 | Launch Services in Apple Mac OS X before 10.5, when Open Safe Files is enabled, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a symlink attack, probably related to a race condition and automatic execution of a downloaded file. | NONE | 2.97%p85 | 2026-04-23 | |
| CVE-2022-21919 | Windows User Profile Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability | HIGH7.0 | 2.95%p85 | KEV | 2025-10-30 |
| CVE-2020-0638 | An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way the Update Notification Manager handles files.To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to gain execution on the victim system, aka 'Update Notification Manager Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. | HIGH7.8 | 2.95%p85 | KEV+R | 2025-10-29 |
| CVE-2010-4226 | cpio, as used in build 2007.05.10, 2010.07.28, and possibly other versions, allows remote attackers to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink within an RPM package archive. | HIGH7.2 | 2.90%p85 | 2026-04-29 | |
| CVE-2019-12209 | Yubico pam-u2f 1.0.7 attempts parsing of the configured authfile (default $HOME/.config/Yubico/u2f_keys) as root (unless openasuser was enabled), and does not properly verify that the path lacks symlinks pointing to other files on the system owned by root. If the debug option is enabled in the PAM configuration, part of the file contents of a symlink target will be logged, possibly revealing sensitive information. | NONE | 2.89%p85 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-3437 | A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco SD-WAN vManage Software could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to read arbitrary files on the underlying filesystem of the device. The vulnerability is due to insufficient file scope limiting. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating a specific file reference on the filesystem and then accessing it through the web-based management interface. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to read arbitrary files from the filesystem of the underlying operating system. | MEDIUM6.5 | 2.88%p85 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2020-7040 | storeBackup.pl in storeBackup through 3.5 relies on the /tmp/storeBackup.lock pathname, which allows symlink attacks that possibly lead to privilege escalation. (Local users can also create a plain file named /tmp/storeBackup.lock to block use of storeBackup until an admin manually deletes that file.) | HIGH8.1 | 2.87%p85 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2011-0402 | dpkg-source in dpkg before 1.14.31 and 1.15.x allows user-assisted remote attackers to modify arbitrary files via a symlink attack on unspecified files in the .pc directory. | NONE | 2.87%p85 | 2026-04-29 | |
| CVE-2014-8585 | Directory traversal vulnerability in the WordPress Download Manager plugin for WordPress allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via a .. (dot dot) in the fname parameter to (1) views/file_download.php or (2) file_download.php. | NONE | 2.85%p85 | 2026-05-06 | |
| CVE-2014-4480 | Directory traversal vulnerability in afc in AppleFileConduit in Apple iOS before 8.1.3 and Apple TV before 7.0.3 allows attackers to access unintended filesystem locations by creating a symlink. | NONE | 2.80%p85 | 2026-05-06 | |
| CVE-2025-48384 | Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals. When reading a config value, Git strips any trailing carriage return and line feed (CRLF). When writing a config entry, values with a trailing CR are not quoted, causing the CR to be lost when the config is later read. When initializing a submodule, if the submodule path contains a trailing CR, the altered path is read resulting in the submodule being checked out to an incorrect location. If a symlink exists that points the altered path to the submodule hooks directory, and the submodule contains an executable post-checkout hook, the script may be unintentionally executed after checkout. This vulnerability is fixed in v2.43.7, v2.44.4, v2.45.4, v2.46.4, v2.47.3, v2.48.2, v2.49.1, and v2.50.1. | HIGH8.1 | 2.78%p84 | KEVPoC | 2026-02-26 |
| CVE-2020-29529 | HashiCorp go-slug up to 0.4.3 did not fully protect against directory traversal while unpacking tar archives, and protections could be bypassed with specific constructions of multiple symlinks. Fixed in 0.5.0. | HIGH7.5 | 2.78%p85 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2019-13173 | fstream before 1.0.12 is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Overwrite. Extracting tarballs containing a hardlink to a file that already exists in the system, and a file that matches the hardlink, will overwrite the system's file with the contents of the extracted file. The fstream.DirWriter() function is vulnerable. | HIGH7.5 | 2.78%p85 | 2025-02-12 | |
| CVE-2021-24084 | Windows Mobile Device Management Information Disclosure Vulnerability | MEDIUM5.5 | 2.75%p84 | PoC | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-2018-10928 | A flaw was found in RPC request using gfs3_symlink_req in glusterfs server which allows symlink destinations to point to file paths outside of the gluster volume. An authenticated attacker could use this flaw to create arbitrary symlinks pointing anywhere on the server and execute arbitrary code on glusterfs server nodes. | HIGH8.8 | 2.70%p84 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2012-2945 | Hadoop 1.0.3 contains a symlink vulnerability. | HIGH7.5 | 2.67%p84 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2022-22995 | The combination of primitives offered by SMB and AFP in their default configuration allows the arbitrary writing of files. By exploiting these combination of primitives, an attacker can execute arbitrary code. | CRITICAL9.8 | 2.63%p84 | 2025-11-03 | |
| CVE-2021-28153 | An issue was discovered in GNOME GLib before 2.66.8. When g_file_replace() is used with G_FILE_CREATE_REPLACE_DESTINATION to replace a path that is a dangling symlink, it incorrectly also creates the target of the symlink as an empty file, which could conceivably have security relevance if the symlink is attacker-controlled. (If the path is a symlink to a file that already exists, then the contents of that file correctly remain unchanged.) | MEDIUM5.3 | 2.62%p83 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2007-5437 | The web console in CA (formerly Computer Associates) eTrust ITM (Threat Manager) 8.1 allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites via a crafted HTTP URL on port 6689. | NONE | 2.59%p83 | 2026-04-23 | |
| CVE-2019-13915 | b3log Wide before 1.6.0 allows three types of attacks to access arbitrary files. First, the attacker can write code in the editor, and compile and run it approximately three times to read an arbitrary file. Second, the attacker can create a symlink, and then place the symlink into a ZIP archive. An unzip operation leads to read access, and write access (depending on file permissions), to the symlink target. Third, the attacker can import a Git repository that contains a symlink, similarly leading to read and write access. | HIGH7.5 | 2.56%p83 | 2024-11-21 | |
| CVE-2023-34723 | An issue was discovered in TechView LA-5570 Wireless Gateway 1.0.19_T53, allows attackers to gain sensitive information via /config/system.conf. | HIGH7.5 | 2.55%p83 | PoC | 2024-11-21 |
| CVE-2026-42989 | Improper link resolution before file access ('link following') in Winlogon allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally. | HIGH7.8 | 2.54%p83 | 2026-06-11 |