CVE-2026-6842Nano: nano: local attacker can inject malicious .desktop launcher due to insecure directory permissions
- 2.5LowCVSS base score
- 0.08%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 100% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
A flaw was found in nano. In environments with permissive umask settings, a local attacker can exploit incorrect directory permissions (0777 instead of 0700) for the `~/.local` directory. This allows the attacker to inject a malicious `.desktop` launcher, which could lead to unintended actions or information disclosure if the launcher is subsequently processed.
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
Published
- 7 months later
· 7 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| redhatCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Low2.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Awaiting Analysis | 3.1 | Low2.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.08% · top 100% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Low 2.5.
Affected products
nano
- affected 2.9.1 – < 9.0
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
All versions: affected
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
All versions: affected
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
All versions: affected
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
All versions: affected
Red Hat · Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
All versions: affected
Red Hat · Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
All versions: affected
Red Hat · Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
All versions: affected
What to do
Workaround: Ensure that the system's umask is configured to a secure value, such as `0022` or `0077`, to prevent the creation of world-writable directories. This can be set system-wide in `/etc/profile` or `/etc/bashrc`, or for individual users in their `~/.bashrc` or `~/.profile`. A secure umask will ensure that newly created directories, including `~/.local` by `nano`, have appropriate permissions.
References
References2
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-6842 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2460018 (opens in a new tab)issue-trackingx_refsource_REDHAT
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-24633 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-6842)Record last updated .