uutils coreutils chcon Utility TOCTOU Vulnerability in Recursive Operations

A Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) vulnerability has been identified in the chcon utility of uutils coreutils, specifically in version 0.8.0. This vulnerability arises during recursive operations, where the implementation resolves targets using a fresh path lookup. This approach allows a local attacker with write access to a directory tree to exploit timing-sensitive rename or symbolic link races, redirecting a privileged recursive relabeling operation to unintended files or directories. As a result, this vulnerability undermines SELinux administration workflows, potentially leading to unauthorized modifications of security labels on sensitive system objects.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability can cause unauthorized changes to security labels on critical system objects, disrupting SELinux management processes.

Remediation

Users can update to uutils coreutils version 0.8.0, which addresses this vulnerability.