On Debian, Ubuntu, and derivative Linux distributions, an on-path attacker who can manipulate the HTTP traffic (including a malicious mirror or proxy) between an APT client and an archive server triggered by a package install can trick the client into installing an attacker-controlled unverified package and achieve remote code execution with root privileges.



The vulnerability is caused by the reuse of hard links and requires the client to follow redirects and retry the download of package files. It requires the client to have a non-zero Acquire::Retries configuration setting; the value 3 is the default starting with Debian 12 (bookworm) and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), so older releases are unaffected in a default configuration

Metrics

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required None

Attack Requirements Present

User Interaction Passive

Vulnerable System Confidentiality Impact High

Vulnerable System Integrity Impact High

Vulnerable System Availability Impact High

Subsequent System Confidentiality Impact None

Subsequent System Integrity Impact None

Subsequent System Availability Impact None

No CVSS v3.1

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

No EPSS score available.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

Affected Vendors & Products

No data.

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OpenCVE Enrichment is a feature of OpenCVE that uses AI to automatically link vendors and products to CVEs. Learn more on GitHub.

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Advisories
Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4880-1 apt security update
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.

Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

References
Link Providers
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/11/msg00004.html cve-icon
https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/2026/msg00526.html cve-icon cve-icon
https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8996-1 cve-icon cve-icon
History

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description On Debian, Ubuntu, and derivative Linux distributions, an on-path attacker who can manipulate the HTTP traffic (including a malicious mirror or proxy) between an APT client and an archive server triggered by a package install can trick the client into installing an attacker-controlled unverified package and achieve remote code execution with root privileges. The vulnerability is caused by the reuse of hard links and requires the client to follow redirects and retry the download of package files. It requires the client to have a non-zero Acquire::Retries configuration setting; the value 3 is the default starting with Debian 12 (bookworm) and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), so older releases are unaffected in a default configuration
Title APT RCE via hard link reuse
Weaknesses CWE-367
CWE-62
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 7.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: canonical

Published:

Updated: 2026-11-04T18:20:21.869Z

Reserved: 2026-10-12T18:44:13.619Z

Link: CVE-2026-109518

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-11-04T16:17:33.010

Modified: 2026-11-04T16:17:33.010

Link: CVE-2026-109518

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-11-04T17:45:07Z

Weaknesses