What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-26158?

CVE-2026-26158 has a contested CVSS base score of 7.0 from a third party (e.g. CISA-ADP), while the vendor rates it High. vuln.today uses the vendor rating as authoritative.

How to fix or mitigate CVE-2026-26158?

Within 24 hours: Identify all systems running BusyBox and document usage patterns, particularly tar extraction functionality. Within 7 days: Implement input validation controls, disable BusyBox tar extraction where possible, and restrict file extraction to sandboxed environments with limited permissions. Within 30 days: Develop a patching strategy and maintain close monitoring of vendor security advisories for patch availability.

BusyBox. This CVE-2026-26158

HIGH

External Control of File Name or Path (CWE-73)

2026-02-11 secalert@redhat.com

Authentication Bypass Privilege Escalation

High

Disputed · 7.0 Vendor: redhat

View

Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

Access

Craft malicious tar archive with symlink entries
Delivery

User extracts archive with elevated privileges
Exploit

Symlink resolves outside intended directory
Execution

Attacker modifies critical system files
Impact

Privilege escalation achieved

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness	CWE CWE-73 OWASP Top 10:2025 A06:2025 - Insecure Design ASVS 5.0 V5 - File Handling File name/path control
Exploitation Conditions	BusyBox tar extraction with elevated privileges (sudo/root), user interaction required to extract attacker-controlled tar archive, AC:H indicates symlink validation bypass requires specific crafting conditions
Impact	CVSS 7.0 (HIGH). Attack vector: Local. Complexity: High. Privileges required: None. User interaction: Required. Exploitation no authentication required.
Exploit ScenarioDerived	An attacker without authentication could exploit this vulnerability to modify files outside of the intended extraction directory by crafting a maliciou.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: Active threat signals + CRITICAL/HIGH severity.

Patch available 0.0% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Mar 12, 2026

D-Link products using BusyBox are vulnerable to privilege escalation through malicious tar archives containing unvalidated symlink or hardlink entries that extract files outside the intended directory. An attacker with local access can craft a specially crafted archive to modify critical system files when extraction occurs with elevated privileges, potentially gaining unauthorized system access. No patch is currently available for this vulnerability.

Earlier versions of this analysis (1)

v1 Mar 12, 2026 - 22:02 CVSS 7.0

RemediationAI

Monitor vendor advisories for a patch.

Affected ProductsAI

A flaw was found in BusyBox. This vulnerability

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

was found in BusyBox. This vulnerability allows an attacker to modify files outside of the intended extraction directory by crafting a malicious tar archive containing unvalidated hardlink or symlink entries. If the tar archive is extracted with elevated privileges, this flaw can lead to privilege escalation, enabling an attacker to gain unauthorized access to critical system files.

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Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Sources disagree (Low–High)

Vendor (redhat) PRIMARY 7.0 HIGH

AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

SUSE 3.1 LOW

AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Red Hat 7.0 HIGH

vuln.today treats the vendor’s rating as authoritative. A higher third-party CVSS (e.g. CISA-ADP) is shown for transparency but does not drive the headline severity.

CVSS VectorVendor: redhat

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

High

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

Required

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Lifecycle Timeline

Patch released

Apr 10, 2026 - 08:30 nvd

Patch available

CVE Published

Feb 11, 2026 - 21:16 nvd

HIGH 7.0

DescriptionCVE.org

A flaw was found in BusyBox. This vulnerability allows an attacker to modify files outside of the intended extraction directory by crafting a malicious tar archive containing unvalidated hardlink or symlink entries. If the tar archive is extracted with elevated privileges, this flaw can lead to privilege escalation, enabling an attacker to gain unauthorized access to critical system files.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

CVE-2026-26158 affects BusyBox and allows attackers to write files outside intended directories through malicious tar archives, potentially compromising system integrity and enabling unauthorized access. Organizations using BusyBox for file extraction or archive handling face elevated risk of data tampering and lateral movement until mitigation is implemented.

Business Impact: High

Compensating Controls

Disable BusyBox tar extraction feature where operationally feasible; restrict BusyBox execution to unprivileged user accounts with minimal filesystem permissions; implement filesystem monitoring and integrity checks on extraction directories; validate tar archives with alternative tools before processing; apply principle of least privilege to limit blast radius; segment networks to prevent compromised systems from affecting critical infrastructure; monitor for suspicious file creation attempts outside intended directories.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score

0.0%

Top 100% exploitable

Threat Intel

1 source

Data Quality

6 sources

Confidence: High

NVD

CVE.org

EPSS CISA Vendor

VulDB

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue

Severity HIGH

CISA KEV No

Public POC No

EPSS 0.0%

Patch available Yes

Active threat Yes

Deciding rule

Active threat signals + CRITICAL/HIGH severity

What every action level means

Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.

Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived

Scheduled

Exploitation· derived

None

System Exposure· derived

Small

Automatable· derived

Human Impact

High

Priority Score

Low Medium High Critical

KEV: 0

EPSS: 0

CVSS: +35

PoC: 0

Weaponized: 0

Threat intel: +10

Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Authentication Bypass CRITICAL

Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.

Privilege Escalation HIGH

Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.

Same weakness CWE-73 – External Control of File Name or Path

View all

CVE-2024-8517 CRITICAL POC

9.8

CVE-2025-33053 HIGH POC

8.8

CVE-2023-4634 CRITICAL POC

9.8

CVE-2025-24054 MEDIUM POC

6.5

CVE-2026-96656 HIGH POC

8.6

CVE-2021-21343 HIGH POC

7.5

CVE-2025-0111 HIGH

7.1

CVE-2024-55372 CRITICAL POC

9.8

Same technique Authentication Bypass

View all

CVE-2015-3306 CRITICAL POC

10.0

CVE-2023-22515 CRITICAL POC

9.8

CVE-2012-4681 CRITICAL POC

9.8

CVE-2013-2465 CRITICAL POC

9.8

CVE-2011-3544 CRITICAL POC

9.8

CVE-2022-40684 CRITICAL POC

9.8

CVE-2025-61882 CRITICAL POC

9.8

CVE-2024-0012 CRITICAL POC

9.3

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Low

Product	Status
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-iso-image:2.1.4-6.135 Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-iso-image:2.1.4-5.135 Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-iso-image:2.1.4-6.142 Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/rt-iso-image:2.1.4-6.135	Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container:2.1.3-6.65 Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container:2.1.3-7.34 Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container:2.1.3-6.58 Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/rt-os-container:2.1.3-7.67 Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/toolbox:13.2-9.19 Image SL-Micro Image SLE-Micro Image SLE-Micro-Azure Image SLE-Micro-BYOS Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-Azure Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-EC2 Image SLE-Micro-BYOS-GCE Image SLE-Micro-EC2 Image SLE-Micro-GCE	Affected
Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/baremetal-os-container:2.2.1-7.57 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/base-os-container:2.2.1-5.78 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/kvm-os-container:2.2.1-5.80 Container suse/sl-micro/6.1/rt-os-container:2.2.1-5.71 Image SL-Micro-Azure Image SL-Micro-BYOS-Azure Image SL-Micro-BYOS-EC2 Image SL-Micro-BYOS-GCE Image SL-Micro-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-Azure Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-BYOS-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-Azure-llc Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-Azure-ltd Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-Azure Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-EC2 Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-BYOS-GCE Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-EC2-llc Image SUSE-Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-EC2-ltd	Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7	Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS	Fixed

Threat IntelligenceMISP

CISA Advisories

ICSA-26-188-05

Sources: CISA (public domain)

References

Advisories & patches

ADVISORY https://vuldb.com/vuln/345604 ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0758/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0759/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0872/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:0892/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:20726/ ADVISORY https://www.suse.com/support/update/SUSE-SU-2026:20905/ REF https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:13831 REF https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-26158 REF https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2439040 REF https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-253495.html REF https://git.busybox.net/busybox/commit/archival?id=3fb6b31c716669e12f75a2accd31bb7685b1a1cb REF https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-26158.json

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