CVE-2021-27851
Local privilege escalation in GNU Guix via guix-daemon and '--keep-failed'
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with guix build, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
5.5
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with guix build, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.
- Record
CVE-2021-27851- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 2.1 Low
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-264, CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
Local privilege escalation in GNU Guix via guix-daemon and '--keep-failed'
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with guix build, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.
- Record
CVE-2021-27851- Weakness
- CWE-264
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-14589 No score
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with guix build, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.
- Record
EUVD-2021-14589- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-c5fp-qrw2-8x2w
5.5
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix...
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with guix build, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.
- Record
GHSA-c5fp-qrw2-8x2w- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-59, CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
5.5
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with guix build, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.
- Record
CVE-2021-27851- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2021-27851
5.5
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with guix build, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2021-27851- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2021-27851
5.5
A security vulnerability that can lead to local privilege escalation has been found in ’guix-daemon’. It affects multi-user setups in which ’guix-daemon’ runs locally. The attack consists in having an unprivileged user spawn a build process, for instance with guix build, that makes its build directory world-writable. The user then creates a hardlink to a root-owned file such as /etc/shadow in that build directory. If the user passed the --keep-failed option and the build eventually fails, the daemon changes ownership of the whole build tree, including the hardlink, to the user. At that point, the user has write access to the target file. Versions after and including v0.11.0-3298-g2608e40988, and versions prior to v1.2.0-75109-g94f0312546 are vulnerable.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2021-27851- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:10836-1 No score
guix-1.3.0-1.8 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the guix-1.3.0-1.8 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:10836-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2021-27851 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.5) in Gnu Guix, published April 26, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.33%, the 26th percentile. Fixed in guix 1.2.0-4.