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Fencer Intel
medium 6.6

CVE-2026-28684 json

python-dotenv: Symlink following in set_key allows arbitrary file overwrite via cross-device rename fallback

published 6mo ago modified 14d ago also GHSA-mf9w-mj56-hr94 , PYSEC-2026-2270 , EUVD-2026-23901

cvss
6.6
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 16%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

python-dotenv reads key-value pairs from a .env file and can set them as environment variables. Prior to version 1.2.2, `set_key()` and `unset_key()` in python-dotenv follow symbolic links when rewriting `.env` files, allowing a local attacker to overwrite arbitrary files via a crafted symlink when a cross-device rename fallback is triggered. Users should upgrade to v.1.2.2 or, as a workaround, apply the patch manually.

Patch / fix

  • pypi python-dotenv 1.2.2
  • saurabh-kumar python-dotenv 1.2.2
  • python-python-dotenv SLE Module for Python 3 15 SP7 1.0.0-150400.9.6.1
  • python-python-dotenv SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 1.1.0-160000.3.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:2724-1SUSE-SU-2026:22118-1

  • python-python-dotenv openSUSE Leap 16.0 1.1.0-160000.3.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:20952-1

Is CVE-2026-28684 in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-28684 updated cvss 7.1

python-dotenv: python-dotenv: Arbitrary file overwrite via symbolic link following

  • Red Hat Lightspeed Core lightspeed-core/rag-tool-rhel9, lightspeed-core/lightspeed-stack-rhel9 Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed openshift-lightspeed/lightspeed-service-api-rhel9
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat AI Inference Server rhaiis/vllm-cpu-rhel9, rhaiis/vllm-tpu-rhel9, rhaiis/vllm-cuda-rhel9, rhaiis/vllm-rocm-rhel9, rhaiis/vllm-spyre-rhel9, rhaiis/vllm-neuron-rhel9
    affected: workaround, no fix available, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 ansible-automation-platform-24/lightspeed-rhel8, ansible-automation-platform-25/lightspeed-rhel8, ansible-automation-platform-25/lightspeed-chatbot-rhel8
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) 3 rhelai3/bootc-cuda-rhel9, rhelai3/bootc-rocm-rhel9, rhelai3/bootc-aws-cuda-rhel9, rhelai3/bootc-gcp-cuda-rhel9, rhelai3/disk-image-cuda-rhel9, rhelai3/bootc-azure-cuda-rhel9, +1 more Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) rhoai/odh-vllm-cuda-rhel9, rhoai/odh-vllm-rocm-rhel9, rhoai/odh-pipeline-runtime-minimal-cpu-py312-rhel9, rhoai/odh-workbench-jupyter-minimal-cpu-py312-rhel9, rhoai/odh-workbench-jupyter-minimal-cuda-py312-rhel9, rhoai/odh-workbench-jupyter-minimal-rocm-py312-rhel9, +3 more
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat Satellite 6 python-dotenv, satellite/foreman-mcp-server-rhel9
    affected: workaround, no fix available, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.2 rhaiis/model-opt-cuda-rhel9 1787772157
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:61628
  • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 ansible-automation-platform-26/mcp-tools-rhel9 1779772877, ansible-automation-platform-26/lightspeed-chatbot-rhel9 1780102732
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:24866
  • Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Applications 8.2 mta/mta-solution-server-rhel9 1784109883
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:43038
show 6 more
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 rhoai/odh-caikit-nlp-rhel9 1791448212, rhoai/odh-vllm-gaudi-rhel9 1780069069, rhoai/odh-feature-server-rhel9 1780069135, rhoai/odh-llama-stack-core-rhel9 1783701598, rhoai/odh-caikit-tgis-serving-rhel9 1783082430, rhoai/odh-kserve-storage-initializer-rhel9 1780069127
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:87410
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 rhoai 1778239104, rhoai 1778262856, rhoai 1778600187, rhoai 1779123334, rhoai/odh-trustyai-garak-lls-provider-dsp-rhel9 1782472374, rhoai/odh-trustyai-nemo-guardrails-server-rhel9 1782471606, +11 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:19712
  • Red Hat Satellite 6.18 satellite/iop-host-inventory-rhel9 1780414237
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:26226
  • Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed openshift-lightspeed/lightspeed-ocp-rag-rhel9, openshift-lightspeed-tech-preview/lightspeed-rag-tool-rhel9 Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 ansible-automation-platform-26/hub-rhel9 1779761061, ansible-automation-platform-26/gateway-rhel9 1779773804, ansible-automation-platform-26/hub-web-rhel9 1779765164, ansible-automation-platform-26/receptor-rhel9 1779770938, ansible-automation-platform-26/controller-rhel9 1779762270, ansible-automation-platform-26/de-minimal-rhel9 1779774688, +22 more Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Applications 8.2 mta/mta-ui-rhel9 1783962515, mta/mta-cli-rhel9 1784211378, mta/mta-hub-rhel9 1784059743, mta/mta-rhel9-operator 1784219586, mta/mta-operator-bundle 1784220119, mta/mta-analyzer-addon-rhel9 1784163267, +7 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI) rhoai/odh-mlflow-rhel9, rhoai/odh-kserve-agent-rhel9, rhoai/odh-kserve-router-rhel9, rhoai/odh-kserve-controller-rhel9
    not affected: vulnerable code not in execute path
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 rhoai/odh-rhel9-operator 1780513840, rhoai/odh-rhel9-operator 1784004914, rhoai/odh-rhel9-operator 1792570619, rhoai/odh-vllm-cpu-rhel9 1780069252, rhoai/odh-vllm-cpu-rhel9 1782397826, rhoai/odh-vllm-cpu-rhel9 1792018436, +213 more Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.3 rhoai 1778262829, rhoai 1778262893, rhoai 1778262907, rhoai 1778262952, rhoai 1778262982, rhoai 1778263019, +225 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
6mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 16% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/theskumar/python-dotenv/security/advisories/GHSA-mf9w-mj56-hr94 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 6.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
GitHub 3.1 6.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
OSV 3.1 6.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
pypi python-dotenv
<1.2.2
1.2.2

Affected products

  • theskumar python-dotenv

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access
  • CWE-61 UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.