CVE-2025-52993Public exploit

Arbitrary file ownership change via passAsFile race

Published Jun 27, 2025 · Updated Jun 27, 2025

A race condition in Nix before 2.24.15, 2.26.4, 2.28.4, and 2.29.1 allows local users to change arbitrary file ownership. Nix writes attacker-controlled passAsFile content to a .attr file, closes it, and then follows its replaceable pathname during a privileged chown. Exploitation requires building an untrusted derivation and winning a filesystem race; the resulting UID and GID change can support root escalation when chained with other flaws.

CVSS severity5.6
Medium
EPSS probability0.12%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

A race condition in Nix before 2.24.15, 2.26.4, 2.28.4, and 2.29.1 allows local users to change arbitrary file ownership. Nix writes attacker-controlled passAsFile content to a .attr file, closes it, and then follows its replaceable pathname during a privileged chown. Exploitation requires building an untrusted derivation and winning a filesystem race; the resulting UID and GID change can support root escalation when chained with other flaws.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-52993
Published
Jun 27, 2025
Updated
Jun 27, 2025
Vendor
NixOS
Product
Nix
Classifications
CWE-362, T1222.002
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 27, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jun 27, 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?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <2.24.15
  2. Affected versionversion=2.25.0 <2.26.4
  3. Affected versionversion=2.27.0 <2.28.4
  4. Affected versionversion=2.29.0 <2.29.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

NixOS · Nixversion=0 <2.24.15; version=2.25.0 <2.26.4; version=2.27.0 <2.28.4; version=2.29.0 <2.29.1

Published CVSS scores

5.6MITRECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-362Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
T1222.002Linux and Mac File and Directory Permissions Modification

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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