A validation issue existed in the handling of symlinks and was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in macOS Monterey 12.4. An app may be able to gain elevated privileges.

An issue in the handling of symlinks was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in Security Update 2022-003 Catalina, macOS Monterey 12.3, macOS Big Sur 11.6.5. A malicious app with root privileges may be able to modify the contents of system files.

systemd-tmpfiles in systemd through 237 mishandles symlinks present in non-terminal path components, which allows local users to obtain ownership of arbitrary files via vectors involving creation of a directory and a file under that directory, and later replacing that directory with a symlink. This occurs even if the fs.protected_symlinks sysctl is turned on.

w3m through 0.5.3 does not properly handle temporary files when the ~/.w3m directory is unwritable, which allows a local attacker to craft a symlink attack to overwrite arbitrary files.

This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15, macOS Sonoma 14.7.1. An app may be able to access sensitive user data.

The MOTD update script in the base-files package in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS before 10.1ubuntu2.2, and Ubuntu 18.10 before 10.1ubuntu6 incorrectly handled temporary files. A local attacker could use this issue to cause a denial of service, or possibly escalate privileges if kernel symlink restrictions were disabled.

This issue was addressed with improved handling of symlinks. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, iOS 17.7.1 and iPadOS 17.7.1, visionOS 2.1, tvOS 18.1. Restoring a maliciously crafted backup file may lead to modification of protected system files.

An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS before 10.13.4 is affected. The issue involves the "ATS" component. It allows attackers to obtain sensitive information by leveraging symlink mishandling.

Insufficient policy enforcement in Installer in Google Chrome on Windows prior to 99.0.4844.51 allowed a remote attacker to perform local privilege escalation via a crafted offline installer file.

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.

In the cron package through 3.0pl1-128 on Debian, and through 3.0pl1-128ubuntu2 on Ubuntu, the postinst maintainer script allows for group-crontab-to-root privilege escalation via symlink attacks against unsafe usage of the chown and chmod programs.

An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. iOS before 10.3.2 is affected. macOS before 10.12.5 is affected. The issue involves the "iBooks" component. It allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context via a crafted app that uses symlinks.

An issue was discovered in certain Apple products. iOS before 10.3 is affected. macOS before 10.12.4 is affected. tvOS before 10.2 is affected. watchOS before 3.2 is affected. The issue involves symlink mishandling in the "libarchive" component. It allows local users to change arbitrary directory permissions via unspecified vectors.

It was discovered that read_file() in apport/hookutils.py would follow symbolic links or open FIFOs. When this function is used by the openjdk-14 package apport hooks, it could expose private data to other local users.

It was discovered that the process_report() function in data/whoopsie-upload-all allowed arbitrary file writes via symlinks.

It was discovered that read_file() in apport/hookutils.py would follow symbolic links or open FIFOs. When this function is used by the openjdk-13 package apport hooks, it could expose private data to other local users.

It was discovered that read_file() in apport/hookutils.py would follow symbolic links or open FIFOs. When this function is used by the openjdk-15 package apport hooks, it could expose private data to other local users.

A validation issue related to hard link behavior was addressed with improved sandbox restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Big Sur 11.6.2, tvOS 15.2, macOS Monterey 12.1, Security Update 2021-008 Catalina, iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2, watchOS 8.3. A malicious application may be able to bypass certain Privacy preferences.

Location Framework in Apple iOS before 8.4.1 allows local users to bypass intended restrictions on filesystem modification via a symlink.

DistUpgrade/DistUpgradeViewKDE.py in Update Manager before 1:0.87.31.1, 1:0.134.x before 1:0.134.11.1, 1:0.142.x before 1:0.142.23.1, 1:0.150.x before 1:0.150.5.1, and 1:0.152.x before 1:0.152.25.5 does not properly create temporary files, which allows local users to obtain the XAUTHORITY file content for a user via a symlink attack on the temporary file.

This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in macOS Ventura 13. Processing a maliciously crafted DMG file may lead to arbitrary code execution with system privileges.

It was discovered that read_file() in apport/hookutils.py would follow symbolic links or open FIFOs. When this function is used by the openjdk-8 package apport hooks, it could expose private data to other local users.

This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia 15. An app may be able to access sensitive user data.

This issue was addressed with improved handling of symlinks. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, visionOS 2.1, macOS Sonoma 14.7.1, watchOS 11.1, tvOS 18.1. A malicious app may be able to access private information.

Apport creates a world writable lock file with root ownership in the world writable /var/lock/apport directory. If the apport/ directory does not exist (this is not uncommon as /var/lock is a tmpfs), it will create the directory, otherwise it will simply continue execution using the existing directory. This allows for a symlink attack if an attacker were to create a symlink at /var/lock/apport, changing apport's lock file location. This file could then be used to escalate privileges, for example. Fixed in versions 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.23, 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.14, 2.20.11-0ubuntu8.8 and 2.20.11-0ubuntu22.

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.)

A validation issue existed in the handling of symlinks. This issue was addressed with improved validation of symlinks. This issue is fixed in macOS Catalina 10.15.3. A malicious application may be able to overwrite arbitrary files.