filelock: StrictSoftFileLock and SoftReadWriteLock adopt a protocol directory another user created first, losing mutual exclusion
CVE-2026-112911
StrictSoftFileLock, AsyncStrictSoftFileLock, SoftReadWriteLock and AsyncSoftReadWriteLock keep their whole ownership state as files in a directory derived from the lock path ( .filelock/claims, .rw/{gen,holders}). When that directory already exists they adopt it after checking only that it is a real directory, not who owns it. Another local user who can create names in the lock's directory can create the tree before the first acquire on that path by the user running the lock (below: the lock user). In /tmp, /var/tmp or another sticky shared directory any user can do that; the sticky bit is a directory flag that lets only a file's owner remove or rename it. The other user then owns the tree. They can unlink the lock user's claims while the lock user holds the lock, so a second process of the lock user, root included, enters the same critical section and neither process sees an error. Against SoftReadWriteLock the same position also admits two writers with oncompromise silent. It redirects the lock user's own creates and renames into a directory the other user picks (the scanner replaced a repository's .git/HEAD with a filelock record written with the lock user's privileges). It…
Assessment
- CVSS
- 6.3 (v3.1)
- Severity
- Medium
- EPSS
- 0.00148% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
- Known exploited
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- Exploit availability
- Nothing found in Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or public PoC repositories
- Published
- 28 October 2026
- Last updated
- 28 October 2026
- Affected
- pip · filelock
- Weakness
- CWE-283
CVSS vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
At the source
References
- https://github.com/tox-dev/filelock/security/advisories/GHSA-9c4x-gm8v-wgc4
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-112911
- https://github.com/tox-dev/filelock/pull/839
- https://github.com/tox-dev/filelock/commit/bfa066d65a1ba9106f86ee9d027f7588b9c77e03
- https://github.com/tox-dev/filelock/releases/tag/4.2.1
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-9c4x-gm8v-wgc4
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