← Vulnerability feed

Vulnerability record · CVE-2026-55074 · published 21 September 2026

CVE-2026-55074: Link following vulnerability

Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin is an Ansible connection plugin for FreeBSD Jails via jexec. Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host ( + ) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv. A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys). Preconditions for this vulnerability are that the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs. This issue has been fixed in version 2.0.0.

8.2 CVSS 4.0 High EPSS 0.44% · top 64.1% CWE-59 · Link following Deferred
8.2CVSS 4.0 base score
0.44%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
0Affected product versions listed by NVD
5References
24 Sep 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin is an Ansible connection plugin for FreeBSD Jails via jexec. Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host ( + ) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv. A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys). Preconditions for this vulnerability are that the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs. This issue has been fixed in version 2.0.0.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:

References

LinkTags
https://github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/blob/main/docs/security/advisory-2.0.0-jail-escape.md
https://github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/commit/6e80eecb2db7aebd1258fded6ae5c3aba1dd4123
https://github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/pull/6
https://github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/releases/tag/v2.0.0
https://github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/security/advisories/GHSA-cxgv-hp74-jj7r

Track CVE-2026-55074 inside VULONE

Watch it alongside the ransomware crews, C2 infrastructure and forum chatter that reference it, query it through the API and pull it into your SIEM over TAXII.

Start free Open in platform

Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

7.8CVE-2026-81963Windows Update Stack link-following privilege escalationWindows Update Stack resolves links improperly before accessing files, a link-following flaw (CWE-59) compounded by improper access control (CWE-284)…KEVEPSS 0.39%analysed7.8CVE-2015-5287ABRT abrt-hook-ccpp symlink privilege escalationThe abrt-hook-ccpp helper in Red Hat's Automatic Bug Reporting Tool (ABRT) before 2.7.1 follows symlinks on files with predictable names, letting a l…KEVEPSS 5.0%analysed7.8CVE-2026-41091Microsoft Defender link following allows local privilege elevationMicrosoft Defender's malware protection engine resolves links improperly before accessing files, a link-following flaw (CWE-59). A local attacker wit…KEVEPSS 0.44%analysed7.2CVE-2024-57728SimpleHelp zip slip path traversal allows arbitrary file write and code executionSimpleHelp remote support software v5.5.7 and earlier lets admin users upload a crafted zip file that writes files anywhere on the file system via zi…KEVEPSS 65%analysed7.8CVE-2025-60710Windows Task Host link following privilege escalationThe Host Process for Windows Tasks resolves links improperly before accessing files (CWE-59), letting a local attacker redirect file operations to at…KEVEPSS 4.6%analysed8.0CVE-2025-48384Git config CRLF handling allows submodule path link-following code executionGit mishandles trailing carriage returns when writing config values, so a submodule path ending in CR is read back altered during submodule initializ…KEVEPSS 4.1%analysed7.1CVE-2025-21391Microsoft Windows Storage Elevation of Privilege via Link FollowingCVE-2025-21391 is a link-following flaw in the Windows Storage component that lets a local user escalate privileges. It affects a broad set of Window…KEVEPSS 2.3%analysed7.0CVE-2024-38106Windows Kernel elevation of privilege via race conditionCVE-2024-38106 is a Windows Kernel elevation of privilege vulnerability affecting a broad set of Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server releases. …KEVEPSS 6.3%analysed

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2026-55074), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.