Description
A flaw in the ChownExecutor used by uutils coreutils chown and chgrp causes the utilities to return an incorrect exit code during recursive operations. The final exit code is determined only by the last file processed. If the last operation succeeds, the command returns 0 even if earlier ownership or group changes failed due to permission errors. This can lead to security misconfigurations where administrative scripts incorrectly assume that ownership has been successfully transferred across a directory tree.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uutils | coreutils | < 0.6.0 | 0.6.0 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | rust-coreutils | 0.6.0-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | rust-coreutils | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | rust-coreutils | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 25.10 | rust-coreutils | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | rust-coreutils | No fix yet | — |
References
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/10035 patch issue-tracking
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/releases/tag/0.6.0 vendor-advisory