# CVE-2026-91151: Cockpit: cockpit: local privilege escalation via insecure symlink handling in public key addition helper

Status: published. Published: 2026-11-11. Updated: 2026-11-11.

A flaw was found in Cockpit. A local authenticated user with control over a target account's home directory can exploit a privileged symlink dereference vulnerability in the `ssh-add-public-key.sh` helper. When this helper runs with elevated privileges, it can be tricked into following attacker-controlled symlinks within the `.ssh` or `authorized_keys` paths. This allows the attacker to arbitrarily change file ownership and modes, potentially leading to local privilege escalation and impacting the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the system.

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (cockpit): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (cockpit): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (cockpit): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (cockpit): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces (devspaces/udi-base-rhel10): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces (devspaces/udi-base-rhel9): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat
- Red Hat / Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces (devspaces/udi-rhel9): Version range not reported. Source: CNA: redhat

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 7.3 (high); CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H; source: CNA: redhat

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: Not available

- SSVC: Not available

- Weaknesses: CWE-59

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-91151 (CNA: redhat; vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT)

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2478404 (CNA: redhat; issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT)

- https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/commit/4796b28be064a90e32262cec85be7839e6198e23 (CNA: redhat)

- https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/releases/tag/372 (CNA: redhat)

## Provenance

- CNA: redhat: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-91151; retrieved 2026-11-11; source updated 2026-11-11

Revision: 3552a17d2c3fbc63b68f05ba9af97f3e3f29167c3f25add74846008dd2bcf4cc

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-91151

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