GNU gzip contains a vulnerability in the gzexe utility related to insecure temporary file handling. When the mktemp utility is not available in the user’s PATH, gzexe falls back to constructing a temporary file path based solely on the process ID (PID). This predictable filename is created without exclusive access or existence checks. A local attacker can pre‑create the predicted temporary file path as a symbolic link pointing to an arbitrary file writable by the victim. When gzexe runs, it foll
GNU gzip contains a vulnerability in the gzexe utility related to insecure temporary file handling. When the mktemp utility is not available in the user’s PATH, gzexe falls back to constructing a temporary file path based solely on the process ID (PID). This predictable filename is created without exclusive access or existence checks. A local attacker can pre‑create the predicted temporary file path as a symbolic link pointing to an arbitrary file writable by the victim. When gzexe runs, it follows the symlink and overwrites the target file, resulting in a time‑of‑check to time‑of‑use (TOCTOU) condition that allows arbitrary file overwrite.
This issue has been fixed in the commit 4e6f8b24ab823146ab8776f0b7fe486ab34d4269
Why this VPI (explainable, experimental)
VPI breakdown
| Impact | 20.00 |
| Exploitation signal(No additional exploitation signal) | ×1.00 |
| VPI | 20.00 |
VPI formula vpi-v1
| Source | CVSS Version | Base Score | Severity | Vector String | Assessment Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNIST | 3.1 | 4.7 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N | 07/02/2026 |
| NVDNIST | 4.0 | 2.0 |
| CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
| 06/30/2026 |