Red Hat

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

Is it exploited?

Not on CISA's list. CISA has not added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of 10 Nov 2026. If CISA adds it, this page shows it as known exploited.

How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?

0.2%

EPSS score, percentile 4.8 of all scored records. A probability estimated by FIRST, not a report of exploitation.

How severe?

7.3 High

CVSS v3.1 base score, given by the CNA

What should I do?

CISA has set no required action, because the vulnerability is not in KEV.

No patch or vendor advisory is listed in the CVE record. Check Red Hat's advisories.

Which versions are affected?

Versions by product

Source: CISA KEV 2026.11.10, as of 10 Nov 2026; FIRST EPSS, as of 12 Nov 2026; CVE List, as of 12 Nov 2026. About the data.

Description

Cockpit: cockpit: local privilege escalation via insecure symlink handling in public key addition helper

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.

Source: CVE List, as of 12 Nov 2026. About the data.

What to do

Advisories and patches

No patch, vendor advisory or mitigation is listed in the CVE record. Check Red Hat's own security advisories for a fix, and compare your version with the affected versions below.

This summary is based on the CVE record as of 12 Nov 2026. Check the vendor's advisory before you act: affected versions and fixes can change.