CVE-2026-88838
Published: October 20, 2026Last modified: October 23, 2026
Description
A flaw was found in BusyBox's mount utility. A non-root user can bypass mount security restrictions set in /etc/fstab by specifying clearing-mask options on the command line. These options pass the non-root flag filter and are merged with fstab options as strings; when the combined options are re-parsed, clearing options can override nosuid, nodev, and noexec protections the administrator intended to enforce.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 5.5 |
| Attack Vector | LOCAL |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | LOW |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | NONE |
| Integrity impact | HIGH |
| Availability impact | NONE |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N |
Notes
Hardened Images are not affected. The images do not include busybox-suid and contain no setuid binaries; mount runs with the caller’s own privileges, so a non-root user cannot mount anything and the option filter is never relied upon.
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | busybox | Vulnerable (1.35.0-r29) |
| 25 LTS | busybox | Vulnerable (1.37.0-r20) | |
| Stream | busybox | Vulnerable (1.36.1-r1) | |
| Hardened Containers | 23 LTS | busybox | Not affected (1.35.0-r29) |
| 25 LTS | busybox | Not affected (1.37.0-r20) | |
| Stream | busybox | Not affected (1.36.1-r1) |