Unintended directory traversal via symlink replacement
Published Aug 6, 2025 · Updated Nov 3, 2025
A TOCTOU race in Go standard library path/filepath Walk and WalkDir allows attackers to traverse unintended directories via symlink replacement. The functions do not bind later traversal to the path entry already checked, so replacing a checked component with a symlink redirects the walk before use. Exploitation requires control of part of the walked filesystem and precise timing; subsequent reads or writes depend on the consuming callback.
Summary
What happened
A TOCTOU race in Go standard library path/filepath Walk and WalkDir allows attackers to traverse unintended directories via symlink replacement. The functions do not bind later traversal to the path entry already checked, so replacing a checked component with a symlink redirects the walk before use. Exploitation requires control of part of the walked filesystem and precise timing; subsequent reads or writes depend on the consuming callback.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-8244
- Published
- Aug 6, 2025
- Updated
- Nov 3, 2025
- Vendor
- Go standard library
- Product
- path/filepath
- Classifications
- CWE-367
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 6, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Nov 3, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Affected versions are unavailable in this record. Check the vendor advisory for version and patch details.
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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