filelock ReadWriteLock: SQLite reopens the lock database by name, so a planted symlink or journal file makes the lock user's process overwrite or unlink its own files
CVE-2026-112940
ReadWriteLock and AsyncReadWriteLock (the SQLite-backed reader/writer lock) hand SQLite a name they do not control. On Linux the lock validates its database through a descriptor (the number the kernel gives a process for an open file). It then connects SQLite to /proc/self/fd/ , a Linux path that names the process's own open file n. SQLite turns that path back into a plain path and reopens it by name, following symlinks (a symlink is a file that points at another path). On every POSIX route SQLite also acts on -journal, -wal and -shm files it finds beside that name. Those are SQLite's side files: the rollback journal (pages saved to undo an interrupted write), the write-ahead log or WAL (changes kept outside the main file), and the shared-memory index for the WAL. Another local user who can create or rename entries in the directory that holds the lock database can turn this against the user running the lock (below: the lock user). Such a directory is a 0777 or group-writable cache, build or project directory without the sticky bit (a directory flag that lets only a file's owner remove or rename it). That other user can make the lock user's ordinary readlock() or writelock() write…
Assessment
- CVSS
- 7.1 (v3.1)
- Severity
- High
- EPSS
- 0.0019% 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
- 23 October 2026
- Last updated
- 23 October 2026
- Affected
- pip · filelock
- Weakness
- CWE-363, CWE-59
CVSS vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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-v4x8-3wr5-3wq8
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-112940
- https://github.com/tox-dev/filelock/pull/834
- https://github.com/tox-dev/filelock/commit/5e3f2ec0c5fb17cb2635b60b2b68bc63ab81ca2d
- https://github.com/tox-dev/filelock/releases/tag/4.2.1
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-v4x8-3wr5-3wq8
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