CVE-2026-19079 — MEDIUM (4.4)

Vulnerability Description

A TOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) race condition vulnerability was found in the fixfiles script in policycoreutils. When running fixfiles relabel or fixfiles restore, the script used find and chcon commands to locate and relabel unlabeled files under /tmp and other directories. A local attacker could exploit a race window between the file discovery and the label change operation by swapping directory components with symlinks, causing chcon to follow the symlink and modify SELinux labels on arbitrary system files. This could undermine SELinux mandatory access control protections on critical files such as /etc/shadow.

CVSS Score

4.4

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector

LOCAL

Attack Complexity

HIGH

Privileges Required

LOW

User Interaction

REQUIRED

Scope

UNCHANGED

Confidentiality

NONE

Integrity

HIGH

Availability

NONE

Related Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-367

References

FAQ

What is CVE-2026-19079?

CVE-2026-19079 is a vulnerability with a CVSS score of 4.4 (MEDIUM). A TOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) race condition vulnerability was found in the fixfiles script in policycoreutils. When running fixfiles relabel or fixfiles restore, the script used find and chcon...

How severe is CVE-2026-19079?

CVE-2026-19079 has been rated MEDIUM with a CVSS base score of 4.4/10. Review the CVSS metrics above for detailed severity breakdown.

Is there a patch for CVE-2026-19079?

Check the references section above for vendor advisories and patch information. Review vendor security bulletins for remediation guidance.