A flaw was found in libcap. A local unprivileged user can exploit a Time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in the cap_set_file() function. This allows an attacker with write access to a parent directory to redirect file capability updates to an attacker-controlled file. By doing so, capabilities can be injected into or stripped from unintended executables, leading to privilege escalation.
CVE-2026-4878
This high-severity CVE scores 7.0 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.1% (3rd percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.0
- EG Score
- 7.0HIGHmedium confidence
- EG Risk
- 32EG Risk 32/100CISA SSVC
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity70% × 45%Exploitation0% × 40%Automatability0% × 15%CISA SSVC: Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines. - EPSS PROB
- 0.1%
- EPSS %ILE
- 3rd
- KEV
- Not listed
CISA SSVCTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table
Published
April 9, 2026
Last Modified
October 9, 2026
Advisory Details (10)
Auto-updated Apr 30, 2026oss-security - Re: libcap-2.77 (since libcap-2.04) has TOCTOU privilege escalation issue
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/09/5oss-security - Re: libcap-2.77 (since libcap-2.04) has TOCTOU privilege escalation issue
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/08/9oss-security - libcap-2.77 (since libcap-2.04) has TOCTOU privilege escalation issue
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/07/4oss-security - Re: libcap-2.77 (since libcap-2.04) has TOCTOU privilege escalation issue
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/07/142451615 – (CVE-2026-4878) CVE-2026-4878 libcap: libcap: Privilege escalation via TOCTOU race condition in cap_set_file()
Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2451615Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:12441Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:12423Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-4878(20)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- RHSA-2026:74674Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat AI Base Images 3.4.3 (Neuron)
- RHSA-2026:72502Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: cert-manager Operator for Red Hat OpenShift 1.20.1
- RHSA-2026:59831Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.12.97 bug fix and security update
- RHSA-2026:58981Red Hat Product SecurityCritical
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5.3 Technology Preview security update
- RHSA-2026:39981Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Cost Management Metrics Operator Update
- RHSA-2026:34098Red Hat Product SecurityCritical
Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.17.55 bug fix and security update
- RHSA-2026:28887Red Hat Product SecurityCritical
Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.14.68 bug fix and security update
- RHSA-2026:30089Red Hat Product SecurityCritical
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat AI Inference Server 3.3.5 (CUDA)
- +12 more
Patch Availability(30)
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(9 across 9 ecosystems)
Alpine:v3.20(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap | — |
| — |
Alpine:v3.21(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap | — |
| — |
Alpine:v3.22(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap | — |
| — |
Alpine:v3.23(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap | — |
| — |
Alpine:v3.24(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap | — |
| — |
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap2 | 1:2.44-1 ... 1:2.78-1 (30 versions) |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap2 | 1:2.66-4, 1:2.66-4+deb12u1, 1:2.66-4+deb12u2 |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap2 | 1:2.75-10 |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libcap2 | 1:2.75-10, 1:2.77-1 |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(15)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
- Microsoft MSRCCVE-2026-48782026-04-11
Libcap: libcap: privilege escalation via toctou race condition in cap_set_file()
- Red HatRHSA-2026:12423IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:12423 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:12441IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:12441 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:13285IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:13285 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:14162IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:14162 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:14937IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:14937 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:19130IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:19130 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:19346IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:19346 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:19456IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:19456 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:19458IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:19458 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:20595IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:20595 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:21254IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:21254 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:21275IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:21275 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:22634IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:22634 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2026:22957IMPORTANT2026-04-06
RHSA-2026:22957 — Important
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 10× in last 7d / 28× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 314 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-10-09 23:24 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-09 22:51 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-09 22:51 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-09 20:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-08 17:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-07 23:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-06 15:18 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-05 17:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-04 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-03 14:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-02 02:18 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-02 02:18 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-01 19:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-30 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-29 01:21 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-29 00:57 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-29 00:57 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-28 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-27 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-26 15:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-26 00:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-23 17:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-20 20:16 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-18 19:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-16 14:08 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 moreShow fewer
- 2026-09-16 05:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-13 16:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-11 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-10 09:35 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-09 13:41 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-09 12:40 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-08 23:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-08 23:02 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-08 22:01 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-08 16:15 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-07 21:31 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-07 21:31 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-07 16:01 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-07 14:00 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-07 13:14 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-06 20:27 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-06 19:24 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-06 19:24 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-06 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-06 02:32 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-06 01:36 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-05 17:25 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-05 16:41 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-05 16:41 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-04 13:29 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-04 12:23 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-04 12:23 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-04 05:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-03 13:20 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-03 12:29 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-03 12:29 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-02 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 13:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 12:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-01 12:22 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-01 04:40 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-31 16:43 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-31 14:54 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-31 14:54 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-30 19:17 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-30 01:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-28 21:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-27 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-26 14:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-25 13:25 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-25 12:22 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-25 10:23 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-25 09:23 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-25 07:36 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-25 06:57 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-25 06:57 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-24 13:31 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-24 12:27 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-24 10:24 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-24 09:28 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-24 09:28 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-24 08:42 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-23 18:20 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-23 17:21 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-23 13:21 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-23 12:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-23 12:26 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-23 00:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-22 22:46 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-22 22:46 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-21 23:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-21 13:22 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-21 12:32 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-08-21 12:32 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-19 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 12:28 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-19 12:11 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-19 01:20 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-08-19 00:20 UTCVendor advisory
Related CVEs(same product + same vendor + same CWE)
Same product
4 shownDebian:11:libcap2
Same vendor
10 shownredhat:RHSA-2026:14937 · redhat:RHSA-2026:23233 · redhat:RHSA-2026:21275
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2026-4878?
When was CVE-2026-4878 disclosed?
Is CVE-2026-4878 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-4878?
How do I remediate CVE-2026-4878?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2026-4878
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