CVE-2026-35361

The mknod utility in uutils coreutils fails to handle security labels atomically by creating device nodes before setting the SELinux context. If labeling fails, the utility attempts cleanup using std::fs::remove_dir, which cannot remove device nodes or FIFOs. This leaves mislabeled nodes behind with incorrect default contexts, potentially allowing unauthorized access to device nodes that should have been restricted by mandatory access controls.

The mknod utility in uutils coreutils fails to handle security labels atomically by creating device nodes before setting the SELinux context. If labeling fails, the utility attempts cleanup using std::fs::remove_dir, which cannot remove device nodes or FIFOs. This leaves mislabeled nodes behind with incorrect default contexts, potentially allowing unauthorized access to device nodes that should have been restricted by mandatory access controls.

Duplicate Advisory

This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-r9hw-mj3w-phcq. This link is maintained to preserve external references.

Original Description

The mknod utility in uutils coreutils fails to handle security labels atomically by creating device nodes before setting the SELinux context. If labeling fails, the utility attempts cleanup using std::fs::remove_dir, which cannot remove device nodes or FIFOs. This leaves mislabeled nodes behind with incorrect default contexts, potentially allowing unauthorized access to device nodes that should have been restricted by mandatory access controls.

uutils calls mknod before setting the SELinux context (GNU uses setfscreatecon first, labeling atomically). If set_selinux_security_context fails, cleanup uses std::fs::remove_dir, which cannot remove device nodes or FIFOs, leaving the mislabeled node behind.

Impact: on SELinux-enforcing systems the node is created with the wrong context; the command reports failure but leaves a mislabeled device node that may bypass mandatory access control, and orphaned nodes can persist across reboots. Recommendation: use setfscreatecon before mknod, abort on failure, and use remove_file for cleanup.

Remediation: Acknowledged by Canonical.

Reported by Zellic in the uutils coreutils Program Security Assessment (prepared for Canonical, Jan 20 2026), audited commit 3a07ffc5a9bd4c283e75afa548ba1f1957bad242. Finding 3.58. Credit: Zellic.

The mknod utility in uutils coreutils fails to handle security labels atomically by creating device nodes before setting the SELinux context. If labeling fails, the utility attempts cleanup using std::fs::remove_dir, which cannot remove device nodes or FIFOs. This leaves mislabeled nodes behind with incorrect default contexts, potentially allowing unauthorized access to device nodes that should have been restricted by mandatory access controls.

The mknod utility in uutils coreutils fails to handle security labels atomically by creating device nodes before setting the SELinux context. If labeling fails, the utility attempts cleanup using std::fs::remove_dir, which cannot remove device nodes or FIFOs. This leaves mislabeled nodes behind with incorrect default contexts, potentially allowing unauthorized access to device nodes that should have been restricted by mandatory access controls.