CVE-2020-8016Public exploit

Local privilege escalation via ls-R symlink race

Published Apr 2, 2020 · Updated Sep 16, 2024

Link-following race in texlive-filesystem on affected SUSE and openSUSE releases allows local users to corrupt privileged files. The root-run RPM post-install script creates and changes ownership and mode of ls-R files inside group-writable, sticky directories without preventing symlink replacement. A local user able to write as nobody or through the mktex group can win the race during package installation and redirect those operations to a system file, enabling privilege escalation.

CVSS severity4.9
Medium
EPSS probability0.29%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Link-following race in texlive-filesystem on affected SUSE and openSUSE releases allows local users to corrupt privileged files. The root-run RPM post-install script creates and changes ownership and mode of ls-R files inside group-writable, sticky directories without preventing symlink replacement. A local user able to write as nobody or through the mktex group can win the race during package installation and redirect those operations to a system file, enabling privilege escalation.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-8016
Published
Apr 2, 2020
Updated
Sep 16, 2024
Vendor
OpenSUSE
Product
openSUSE Leap
Classifications
CWE-367, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 2, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 16, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=texlive-filesystem <2017.135-lp151.8.3.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

OpenSUSE · openSUSE Leapversion=texlive-filesystem <2017.135-lp151.8.3.1
SUSE · SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applicationsversion=texlive-filesystem <2017.135-9.5.1
SUSE · SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kitversion=texlive-filesystem <2013.74-16.5.1

Published CVSS scores

7.0NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.4NIST NVDAV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
4.9SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-367Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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