CVE-2026-41991 json
Predictable Temporary File in GNU gzip
published 4mo ago modified 15d ago also EUVD-2026-40068 , GHSA-67v8-88jf-4x6q , JLSEC-2026-1264
- cvss
- 4.7
- version 3.1, NVD
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.1%
- EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 1%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
GNU gzip contains a vulnerability in the gzexe utility related to insecure temporary file handling. When the mktemp utility is not available in the user’s PATH, gzexe falls back to constructing a temporary file path based solely on the process ID (PID). This predictable filename is created without exclusive access or existence checks. A local attacker can pre‑create the predicted temporary file path as a symbolic link pointing to an arbitrary file writable by the victim. When gzexe runs, it follows the symlink and overwrites the target file, resulting in a time‑of‑check to time‑of‑use (TOCTOU) condition that allows arbitrary file overwrite.
This issue has been fixed in the commit 4e6f8b24ab823146ab8776f0b7fe486ab34d4269
Patch / fix
- gzip Debian 13 1.13-1+deb13u1
- gzip Debian 14 1.14-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-41991
- gzip Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 1.10-4ubuntu4.2
- gzip Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 1.12-1ubuntu3.2
- gzip Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 1.14-1~exp2ubuntu1.1
- gzip Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS 1.6-3ubuntu1+esm2
- gzip Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 1.6-4ubuntu1+esm2
- gzip Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS 1.6-5ubuntu1.2+esm1
- gzip Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 1.10-0ubuntu4.1+esm1
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-41991
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- gzip hummingbird 1 1.15-1.hum1
- gzip RHEL 8 1.9-15.el8_10
- gzip RHEL 10.2 1.13-4.el10_2
- gzip RHEL 9 1.12-2.el9_8
- gzip hummingbird 1 1.14-2.2.hum1
red hat advisories RHSA-2026:79717RHSA-2026:65998RHSA-2026:61625RHSA-2026:61623RHSA-2026:33771
- gzip SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +11 more 1.10-150200.13.1
- gzip Linux Micro 6.1 1.13-slfo.1.1_3.1
- gzip Linux Micro 6.0 1.13-2.1
- gzip SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 1.13-160000.3.1
- gzip SLES LTSS Extended Security 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5-LTSS 1.10-4.17.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:3269-1SUSE-SU-2026:3241-1SUSE-SU-2026:22906-1SUSE-SU-2026:22918-1SUSE-SU-2026:22753-1SUSE-SU-2026:22818-1
- gzip openSUSE Leap 16.0 1.13-160000.3.1
- gzip openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.14-2.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21371-1openSUSE-SU-2026:11174-1
- gzip AlmaLinux 8 1.9-15.el8_10
- gzip AlmaLinux 9 1.12-2.el9_8
- gzip AlmaLinux 10 1.13-4.el10_2
almalinux advisories ALSA-2026:65998ALSA-2026:61623ALSA-2026:61625
- gzip Rocky Linux 8 1.9-15.el8_10
- gzip Rocky Linux 10 1.13-4.el10_2
- gzip Rocky Linux 9 1.12-2.el9_8
rocky linux advisories RLSA-2026:65998RLSA-2026:61625RLSA-2026:61623
- gzip Alpine 3.24 1.15-r0
alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2026-41991
Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
Is CVE-2026-41991 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.
Check with FencerVendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-41991 updated cvss 6.0
gzip: gzip: Arbitrary file overwrite via insecure temporary file handling in gzexe utility
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 gzip Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 gzip Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8, openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces devspaces/code-sshd-rhel9affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
-
Red Hat Discovery 2 discovery/discovery-server-rhel9 1788205779fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:61783
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) gzip 1.9-15.el8_10fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:65998
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) gzip 1.12-2.el9_8fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:61623
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) gzip 1.13-4.el10_2fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:61625
-
Red Hat Hardened Images gzip 1.15-1.hum1, gzip 1.14-2.2.hum1fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:33771
-
Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5 rhui5/cds-rhel9 1788880464, rhui5/rhua-rhel9 1788880581, rhui5/haproxy-rhel9 1788880456, rhui5/installer-rhel9 1788765051, rhui5/cds-kubernetes-rhel9 1788880445fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:66018
-
Red Hat Discovery 2 discovery/discovery-ui-rhel9 1788206196not 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
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 4mo ago
Exploit prediction
0.12% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 1% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 4.0 | 2.0 | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
| CNA | 4.0 | 2.0 | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:L/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:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
| NVD | 3.1 | 4.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N |
| OSV | 3.1 | 4.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N |
Affected packages
| ecosystem | package | affected | fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| julia | Gzip_jll | all versions |
no fix listed |
Affected products
- GNU gzip
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-377 DEPRECATED: Insecure Temporary File
References
-
cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org
/cgit/gzip.git/commit/?id=4e6f8b24ab823146ab8776f0b7fe486ab34d4269
patch, web
-
cert.pl
/en/posts/2026/04/CVE-2026-41991/
third-party-advisory, broken-link, web
-
gnu.org
/software/gzip/
product, web
-
cert.pl
/en/posts/2026/04/CVE-2026-41991
web
-
github.com
/advisories/GHSA-67v8-88jf-4x6q
web
-
nvd.nist.gov
/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-41991
web
-
gnu.org
/software/gzip
web
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-41991
- NVD CVE-2026-41991
- OSV JLSEC-2026-1264
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.