High severity · published Apr 8, 2026
CVE-2026-39860
Nix sandbox escape: file write via symlink at FOD `.tmp` copy destination
8.4
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Nix is a package manager for Linux and other Unix systems. A bug in the fix for CVE-2024-27297 allowed for arbitrary overwrites of files writable by the Nix process orchestrating the builds (typically the Nix daemon running as root in multi-user installations) by following symlinks during fixed-output derivation output registration. This affects sandboxed Linux builds - sandboxed macOS builds are unaffected. The location of the temporary output used for the output copy was located inside the build chroot. A symlink, pointing to an arbitrary location in the filesystem, could be created by the derivation builder at that path. During output registration, the Nix process (running in the host mount namespace) would follow that symlink and overwrite the destination with the derivation's output contents. In multi-user installations, this allows all users able to submit builds to the Nix daemon (allowed-users - defaulting to all users) to gain root privileges by modifying sensitive files. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.34.5, 2.33.4, 2.32.7, 2.31.4, 2.30.4, 2.29.3, and 2.28.6.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 9% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
NI
nix · NixOS
>= 2.21, < 2.28.6; >= 2.29.0, < 2.29.3; >= 2.30.0, < 2.30.4; >= 2.31.0, < 2.31.4; >= 2.32.0, < 2.32.7; >= 2.33.0, < 2.33.4; +4 more · source: vendor, NVD
Affected product
NI
nix
NixOS
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