CVE-2026-5958
Race Condition in GNU Sed
No known exploitation. EPSS puts it in the 3rd percentile. No fix published yet.
What to do
No fixed build or workaround is published yet. Limit exposure and watch for a patch.
What it is
From the CVE record
When sed is invoked with both -i (in-place edit) and --follow-symlinks, the function open_next_file() performs two separate, non-atomic filesystem operations on the same path: 1. resolves symlink to its target and stores the resolved path for determining when output is written, 2. opens the original symlink path (not the resolved one) to read the file. Between these two calls there is a race window. If an attacker atomically replaces the symlink with a different target during that window, sed will: read content from the new (attacker-chosen) symlink target and write the processed result to the path recorded in step 1. This can lead to arbitrary file overwrite with attacker-controlled content in the context of the sed process. This issue was fixed in version 4.10.
In plain language
No plain-language summary for this CVE yet.
Exploitation
Where each signal puts this CVE on the scale from published to confirmed exploited.
- CISA KEV
Not in the catalog. CISA has not confirmed exploitation.
- Public exploits
No public exploit or proof of concept found in the sources we track.
- EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the 3rd percentile of scored CVEs.
Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST.org. A probability, not a confirmation.
Lifecycle
5 events over 66 days, from the signal feeds we watch.
- OpenVAS check added
- Record updated
- Publishedweakness classified, att&ck mapped
Affected products
Technical detail
Weaknesses
ATT&CK techniques
Mapped from the weaknesses above (CWE to ATT&CK), not observed in attacks.
- Privilege EscalationT1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalationmedium confidence
Sources
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