CVE-2026-90954
Busybox: busybox: dpkg-deb extraction-root escape via per-ar-member deferred symlink flush
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes deferred symlinks after each archive member, unlike the tar, cpio, and unzip handlers which flush once after the last member. A specially crafted .deb archive with two data.tar members can exploit this ordering: the first member declares a symlink pointing to an absolute path (e.g., '/'), which is deferred as unsafe but flushed after the first member. The second member declares a regular file whose path traverses the now-live symlink, resulting in a file being written outside the intended extraction directory. This could allow an attacker to write arbitrary files to arbitrary locations when a user extracts a crafted .deb package.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.8
Busybox: busybox: dpkg-deb extraction-root escape via per-ar-member deferred symlink flush
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes deferred symlinks after each archive member, unlike the tar, cpio, and unzip handlers which flush once after the last member. A specially crafted .deb archive with two data.tar members can exploit this ordering: the first member declares a symlink pointing to an absolute path (e.g., '/'), which is deferred as unsafe but flushed after the first member. The second member declares a regular file whose path traverses the now-live symlink, resulting in a file being written outside the intended extraction directory. This could allow an attacker to write arbitrary files to arbitrary locations when a user extracts a crafted .deb package.
- Record
CVE-2026-90954- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-100951
7.8
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes deferred symlinks after each archive member, unlike the tar, cpio, and unzip handlers which flush once after the last member. A specially crafted .deb archive with two data.tar members can exploit this ordering: the first member declares a symlink pointing to an absolute path (e.g., '/'), which is deferred as unsafe but flushed after the first member. The second member declares a regular file whose path traverses the now-live symlink, resulting in a file being written outside the intended extraction directory. This could allow an attacker to write arbitrary files to arbitrary locations when a user extracts a crafted .deb package.
- Record
EUVD-2026-100951- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-68qr-37mv-cwhv
7.8
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes...
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes deferred symlinks after each archive member, unlike the tar, cpio, and unzip handlers which flush once after the last member. A specially crafted .deb archive with two data.tar members can exploit this ordering: the first member declares a symlink pointing to an absolute path (e.g., '/'), which is deferred as unsafe but flushed after the first member. The second member declares a regular file whose path traverses the now-live symlink, resulting in a file being written outside the intended extraction directory. This could allow an attacker to write arbitrary files to arbitrary locations when a user extracts a crafted .deb package.
- Record
GHSA-68qr-37mv-cwhv- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.8
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes deferred symlinks after each archive member, unlike the tar, cpio, and unzip handlers which flush once after the last member. A specially crafted .deb archive with two data.tar members can exploit this ordering: the first member declares a symlink pointing to an absolute path (e.g., '/'), which is deferred as unsafe but flushed after the first member. The second member declares a regular file whose path traverses the now-live symlink, resulting in a file being written outside the intended extraction directory. This could allow an attacker to write arbitrary files to arbitrary locations when a user extracts a crafted .deb package.
- Record
CVE-2026-90954- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBELL-CVE-2026-90954
7.8
CVE-2026-90954 does not affect BellSoft software
- Record
BELL-CVE-2026-90954- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2026-90954
7.8
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes deferred symlinks after each archive member, unlike the tar, cpio, and unzip handlers which flush once after the last member. A specially crafted .deb archive with two data.tar members can exploit this ordering: the first member declares a symlink pointing to an absolute path (e.g., '/'), which is deferred as unsafe but flushed after the first member. The second member declares a regular file whose path traverses the now-live symlink, resulting in a file being written outside the intended extraction directory. This could allow an attacker to write arbitrary files to arbitrary locations when a user extracts a crafted .deb package.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90954- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2026-90954
7.8
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes deferred symlinks after each archive member, unlike the tar, cpio, and unzip handlers which flush once after the last member. A specially crafted .deb archive with two data.tar members can exploit this ordering: the first member declares a symlink pointing to an absolute path (e.g., '/'), which is deferred as unsafe but flushed after the first member. The second member declares a regular file whose path traverses the now-live symlink, resulting in a file being written outside the intended extraction directory. This could allow an attacker to write arbitrary files to arbitrary locations when a user extracts a crafted .deb package.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90954- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVAZL-109776 No score
CVE-2026-90954 affecting package busybox 1.36.1-28
A flaw was found in BusyBox's dpkg-deb archive extraction. The ar archive handler flushes deferred symlinks after each archive member, unlike the tar, cpio, and unzip handlers which flush once after the last member. A specially crafted .deb archive with two data.tar members can exploit this ordering: the first member declares a symlink pointing to an absolute path (e.g., '/'), which is deferred as unsafe but flushed after the first member. The second member declares a regular file whose path traverses the now-live symlink, resulting in a file being written outside the intended extraction directory. This could allow an attacker to write arbitrary files to arbitrary locations when a user extracts a crafted .deb package.
- Record
AZL-109776- Updated
- 2026-11-05
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2026:12376-1 No score
busybox-1.38.0-4.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the busybox-1.38.0-4.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2026:12376-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
busyboxAzure Linux:3 |
through 1.36.1-28 | None known |
busyboxDebian:12 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.35.0-41:1.35.0-4+deb12u11:1.36.0-1~exp11:1.36.1-11:1.36.1-2 Show 23 moreShow less1:1.36.1-31:1.36.1-3.11:1.36.1-41:1.36.1-51:1.36.1-61:1.36.1-6~exp.11:1.36.1-71:1.36.1-81:1.36.1-91:1.37.0-11:1.37.0-101:1.37.0-10.11:1.37.0-21:1.37.0-31:1.37.0-41:1.37.0-51:1.37.0-61:1.37.0-71:1.37.0-81:1.37.0-91:1.38.0-11:1.38.0-21:1.38.0-3 |
None known |
busyboxDebian:13 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.37.0-101:1.37.0-10.11:1.37.0-61:1.37.0-71:1.37.0-8 Show 4 moreShow less1:1.37.0-91:1.38.0-11:1.38.0-21:1.38.0-3 |
None known |
busyboxDebian:14 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.37.0-101:1.37.0-10.11:1.37.0-61:1.37.0-71:1.37.0-8 Show 4 moreShow less1:1.37.0-91:1.38.0-11:1.38.0-21:1.38.0-3 |
None known |
busyboxUbuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.20.0-8.1ubuntu11:1.20.0-9ubuntu11:1.20.0-9ubuntu21:1.21.0-1ubuntu11:1.21.0-1ubuntu1.41:1.21.0-1ubuntu1.4+esm1 |
None known |
busyboxUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.22.0-15ubuntu11:1.22.0-15ubuntu1.41:1.22.0-15ubuntu1.4+esm11:1.22.0-15ubuntu1.4+esm2 |
None known |
busyboxUbuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.22.0-19ubuntu21:1.27.2-1ubuntu31:1.27.2-1ubuntu41:1.27.2-2ubuntu21:1.27.2-2ubuntu3 Show 5 moreShow less1:1.27.2-2ubuntu3.11:1.27.2-2ubuntu3.21:1.27.2-2ubuntu3.31:1.27.2-2ubuntu3.41:1.27.2-2ubuntu3.4+esm1 |
None known |
busyboxUbuntu:20.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.30.1-4ubuntu41:1.30.1-4ubuntu51:1.30.1-4ubuntu61:1.30.1-4ubuntu6.11:1.30.1-4ubuntu6.21:1.30.1-4ubuntu6.31:1.30.1-4ubuntu6.41:1.30.1-4ubuntu6.5 |
None known |
busyboxUbuntu:22.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.30.1-6ubuntu31:1.30.1-7ubuntu11:1.30.1-7ubuntu21:1.30.1-7ubuntu31:1.30.1-7ubuntu3.1 |
None known |
busyboxUbuntu:24.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.36.1-3ubuntu11:1.36.1-6ubuntu11:1.36.1-6ubuntu31:1.36.1-6ubuntu3.1 |
None known |
busyboxUbuntu:26.10 |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.37.0-7ubuntu11:1.37.0-10.1ubuntu21:1.37.0-10.1ubuntu31:1.38.0-3ubuntu11:1.38.0-3ubuntu31:1.38.0-3ubuntu4 |
None known |
busyboxUbuntu:26.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1:1.37.0-4ubuntu11:1.37.0-7ubuntu1 |
None known |
busyboxopenSUSE:Tumbleweed From an advisory covering 8 CVEs |
before 1.38.0-4.1 | 1.38.0-4.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| facts | OSV | |
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-90954 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) in Red Hat Hardened Images, published October 14, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.24%, the 14th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-90954
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2533007
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90954
github.com/advisories/GHSA-68qr-37mv-cwhv
docs.bell-sw.com/security/cves/CVE-2026-90954
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-90954
Show 10 moreShow less
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-90954
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-90954
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-58251
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-108119
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-88829
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-88833
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-88834
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-88842
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-90954
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-92205