Low [CVE-2026-6842] Nano: nano: local attacker can inject malicious.desktop launcher due to insecure directory permissions
This low-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-6842 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
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Summary
A flaw was found in nano. In environments with permissive umask settings, a local attacker can exploit incorrect directory permissions (0777 instead of 0700) for the `~/.local` directory.
This allows the attacker to inject a malicious `.desktop` launcher, which could lead to unintended actions or information disclosure if the launcher is subsequently processed. This issue affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9.
Red Hat severity: Low — CVSS 2.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N). Weakness: CWE-732.
Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9; Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4. Red Hat does not currently list a fixing RHSA for this CVE.
Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat package: nano.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- Ensure that the system's umask is configured to a secure value, such as `0022` or `0077`, to prevent the creation of world-writable directories. This can be set system-wide in `/etc/profile` or `/etc/bashrc`, or for individual users in their `~/.bashrc` or `~/.profile`. A secure umask will ensure that newly created directories, including `~/.local` by `nano`, have appropriate permissions.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
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