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Full vulnerability report · 2026
CVE-2026-49421High confidence

unlinkat(2) ignores AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH flag

FreeBSD · FreeBSD

7.1HighCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Fix not verified
R
Operational reassessment

Published severity in operational context

Open reassessment dashboard →
Published severityHighOperational priority:Medium, lowered one band.downgradedsince 26 Aug 2026

Evidence used

  • No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
  • Exploitation requires an existing local or physical foothold with privileges.
  • EPSS is 0.13% for the current model date.

Compensating controls

  • Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
  • Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the asset runs FreeBSD FreeBSD and falls inside the recorded affected range.
  2. Recheck the vendor advisory before scheduling a change because no verified fixed version is currently retained.
  3. Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
  4. Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Mitigation target: As exposure requiresRemediation target: Within 365 days

This automated reassessment organises public evidence. It does not know asset exposure, business impact or control effectiveness and does not replace CVSS or a human risk decision.

Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Choose official national sources for this report. Each advisory shows its original language. Your selection is remembered on this device and included in shared links.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2026-62243

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

The kernel function that implements unlinkat(2) and funlinkat(2) validated the AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH flag but failed to pass it through to the underlying path lookup. The flag was silently dropped, so path resolution was not actually restricted. A process that uses AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH with unlinkat(2) or funlinkat(2) to confine path resolution can in fact resolve paths above the starting directory. A caller relying on this flag for path containment may delete files outside the intended directory tree.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
7.1 · CVSS 3.1
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Fix not verified
01

What, why and how

The kernel function that implements unlinkat(2) and funlinkat(2) validated the AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH flag but failed to pass it through to the underlying path lookup. The flag was silently dropped, so path resolution was not actually restricted. A process that uses AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH with unlinkat(2) or funlinkat(2) to confine path resolution can in fact resolve paths above the starting directory. A caller relying on this flag for path containment may delete files outside the intended directory tree.

What

The kernel function that implements unlinkat(2) and funlinkat(2) validated the AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH flag but failed to pass it through to the underlying path lookup. The flag was silently dropped, so path resolution was not actually restricted. A process that uses AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH with unlinkat(2) or funlinkat(2) to confine path resolution can in fact resolve paths above the starting directory. A caller relying on this flag for path containment may delete files outside the intended directory tree.

Why

The product attempts to drop privileges but does not check or incorrectly checks to see if the drop succeeded.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

What

The kernel function that implements unlinkat(2) and funlinkat(2) validated the AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH flag but failed to pass it through to the underlying path lookup. The flag was silently dropped, so path resolution was not actually restricted. A process that uses AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH with unlinkat(2) or funlinkat(2) to confine path resolution can in fact resolve paths above the starting directory. A caller relying on this flag for path containment may delete files outside the intended directory tree.

Why

The product attempts to drop privileges but does not check or incorrectly checks to see if the drop succeeded.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
local access → Improper Check for Dropped Privileges → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
Attack surface
Local
Privileges required
Low: a basic authenticated account is required
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-273 ↗

CWE-273: Improper Check for Dropped Privileges. The product attempts to drop privileges but does not check or incorrectly checks to see if the drop succeeded.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CNoneConfidentiality impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
CWE-273
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-62243Official EUVD mapping

The kernel function that implements unlinkat(2) and funlinkat(2) validated the AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH flag but failed to pass it through to the underlying path lookup. The flag was silently dropped, so path resolution was not actually restricted. A process that uses AT_RESOLVE_BENEATH with unlinkat(2) or funlinkat(2) to confine path resolution can in fact resolve paths above the starting directory. A caller relying on this flag for path containment may delete files outside the intended directory tree.

Official EUVD record ↗
BSI · German · WID-SEC-2026-2165FreeBSD Project FreeBSD OS: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in FreeBSD Project FreeBSD OS ausnutzen, um seine Privilegien zu erhöhen, um Informationen offenzulegen, um Dateien zu manipulieren, um einen Denial of Service Angriff durchzuführen, und um beliebigen Programmcode auszuführen.

Official advisory ↗
Cyber Security Agency of Singapore · English · CSA-SB-20260826Security Bulletin 26 Aug 2026

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore included this CVE in its official Security Bulletin 26 Aug 2026, published on 26 August 2026. Open the linked bulletin for the product, severity and reference information published in that issue.

Official advisory ↗
JVN iPedia · Japanese · JVNDB-2026-031307FreeBSDにおける削除された特権に対する不適切なチェックに関する脆弱性

unlinkat(2)およびfunlinkat(2)を実装するカーネル関数はAT_RESOLVE_BENEATHフラグを検証しましたが、それを基盤となるパス検索に正しく渡すことに失敗しました。このフラグは静かに無視されていたため、実際にはパスの解決が制限されていませんでした。unlinkat(2)またはfunlinkat(2)でAT_RESOLVE_BENEATHを使用してパスの解決を制限しようとするプロセスは、実際には開始ディレクトリより上位のパスを解決できてしまいます。このフラグに依存してパスの包含を期待している呼び出し元は、意図したディレクトリツリー外のファイルを削除してしまう可能性があります。

Official advisory ↗
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Fix not verified
Affected
FreeBSD: 15.1-RELEASE < p1, 15.0-RELEASE < p11, 14.4-RELEASE < p7, 14.3-RELEASE < p16
Fixed
No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
Action
No verified patch reference is present in the current structured sources. Check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 19 Aug 2026 · Last source change 26 Aug 2026, 17:44 UTC · CWE-273 · Improper Check for Dropped Privileges

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2
CVSS sourceCISA ADP
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-23
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-62243
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD enriched

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗
  1. Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added vendor advisory: security.freebsd.org/FreeBSD-SA-26:42.unlinkat.asc.
    Before
    no authoritative guidance recorded
    After
    vendor advisory: security.freebsd.org/FreeBSD-SA-26:42.unlinkat.asc
    secteam@freebsd.org ↗
  2. SeveritySeverity changed from Unknown to High.
    Before
    Unknown
    After
    High
    CISA ADP ↗
  3. CVSS scoreCVSS score changed from not recorded to 7.1 (CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP · CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H).
    Before
    not recorded
    After
    7.1 (CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP · CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H)
    CISA ADP ↗
  4. Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.
    CNA ↗
Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-62243↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2026-49421 · cve.blacktree.nl