Cached source overwrite via symlink cache escape
Published May 25, 2026 · Updated May 25, 2026
Symlink following in Cargo before 1.96.0 allows remote attackers to overwrite cached crate source through malicious third-party registry tarballs. Cargo’s archive extraction accepts crafted symlink entries whose paths escape one level below the current crate cache directory and replace files in another cached crate. Exploitation requires a victim to fetch the malicious crate from the same third-party registry; crates.io rejects symlink-containing uploads.
Summary
What happened
Symlink following in Cargo before 1.96.0 allows remote attackers to overwrite cached crate source through malicious third-party registry tarballs. Cargo’s archive extraction accepts crafted symlink entries whose paths escape one level below the current crate cache directory and replace files in another cached crate. Exploitation requires a victim to fetch the malicious crate from the same third-party registry; crates.io rejects symlink-containing uploads.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-5223
- Published
- May 25, 2026
- Updated
- May 25, 2026
- Vendor
- Rust Project
- Product
- Cargo
- Classifications
- CWE-61, T1195.001
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 25, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=1.0.0 <1.96.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo