uutils/coreutils · Security
chmod: recursive mode returns exit code 0 even when some files fail (last-file-wins)
- GHSA ID
- GHSA-4x34-chg5-mwjj
- CVE ID
- CVE-2026-35339
- Severity
- medium
- Published
- Updated
- CVSS
- 5.5 · CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- CVSS v3
- 5.5 · CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Description
In Chmoder::chmod() the recursive branch overwrites the running result instead of accumulating it, so the exit code reflects only the last file processed:
if self.recursive {
r = self.walk_dir_with_context(file, true); // overwrites r
} else {
r = self.chmod_file(file).and(r);
}
PoC: GNU returns 1 when a file fails; uutils returns 0 if the last entry succeeds:
$ chmod -R 0755 chmod-bug/root chmod-bug/user # GNU -> ret=1
$ uutils chmod -R 0755 chmod-bug/root chmod-bug/user # -> ret=0
Impact: scripts relying on the exit code get a false success signal while some files retained restrictive/unexpected permissions, leading to access-control misconfigurations. Recommendation: accumulate errors during traversal.
Remediation: Acknowledged by Canonical; fixed in commit abd581f6.
Reported by Zellic in the uutils coreutils Program Security Assessment (prepared for Canonical, Jan 20 2026), audited commit 3a07ffc5a9bd4c283e75afa548ba1f1957bad242. Finding 3.2. Credit: Zellic.
CWEs
- CWE-252 · Unchecked Return Value
- CWE-253 · Incorrect Check of Function Return Value
- CWE-755 · Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions
References
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/security/advisories/GHSA-4x34-chg5-mwjj ↗
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-35339 ↗
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/9793 ↗
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/commit/abd581f62e97d0b147306ac40eac13af71c6fbba ↗
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/releases/tag/0.6.0 ↗
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4x34-chg5-mwjj ↗