CVE-2026-4878

Publication date 9 April 2026

Last updated 26 June 2026


Ubuntu priority

Cvss 3 Severity Score

6.7 · Medium

Score breakdown

Description

A flaw was found in libcap. A local unprivileged user can exploit a Time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in the `cap_set_file()` function. This allows an attacker with write access to a parent directory to redirect file capability updates to an attacker-controlled file. By doing so, capabilities can be injected into or stripped from unintended executables, leading to privilege escalation.

Status

Package Ubuntu Release Status
libcap2 26.04 LTS resolute
Not affected
25.10 questing
Fixed 1:2.75-7ubuntu2.2
24.04 LTS noble
Fixed 1:2.66-5ubuntu2.4
22.04 LTS jammy
Fixed 1:2.44-1ubuntu0.22.04.3
20.04 LTS focal
Fixed 1:2.32-1ubuntu0.2+esm1
18.04 LTS bionic
Fixed 1:2.25-1.2ubuntu0.1~esm2
16.04 LTS xenial
Fixed 1:2.24-12ubuntu0.1~esm2
14.04 LTS trusty
Fixed 1:2.24-0ubuntu2+esm2

Get expanded security coverage with Ubuntu Pro

Reduce your average CVE exposure time from 98 days to 1 day with expanded CVE patching, ten-years security maintenance and optional support for the full stack of open-source applications. Free for personal use.

Get Ubuntu Pro 30-day free trial

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package Patch details
libcap2

Severity score breakdown

CVSS version: CVSS v3.0

Base score 6.7 · Medium

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H


Access our resources on patching vulnerabilities