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Local Privilege Escalation in snapd

Type: advisorySources: OSV

Local privilege escalation in snapd on Linux allows local attackers to get root privilege by re-creating snap's private /tmp directory when systemd-tmpfiles is configured to automatically clean up this directory. This issue affects Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS, and 24.04 LTS.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2026-3888
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
4 Nov 2026, 13:55 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

Local Privilege Escalation in snapd

core-osv · Original source

Published 17 Mar 2026, 14:02 UTC

Local privilege escalation in snapd on Linux allows local attackers to get root privilege by re-creating snap's private /tmp directory when systemd-tmpfiles is configured to automatically clean up this directory. This issue affects Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS, and 24.04 LTS.

osv:CVE-2026-3888
Complete source record
{
  "id": "ada4b4c221329ce7d01bb834541678cbe7c3faf499efb7e9dd75cf9762f0308f",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-3888",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "Local Privilege Escalation in snapd",
    "summary": "Local privilege escalation in snapd on Linux allows local attackers to get root privilege by re-creating snap's private /tmp directory when systemd-tmpfiles is configured to automatically clean up this directory. This issue affects Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS, 22.04 LTS, and 24.04 LTS.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2026-3888",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "high",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2026-3888",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2026-3888"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/canonical/snapd",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4f16c3f0664575cf915b5727684d249f6e00bcc6"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "2.75.1"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                    "strategy": "StandardRange"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "2.75",
            "untagged-ec50ee5bfb45daefc236",
            "2.15.2",
            "2.15",
            "2.14.2.16.04",
            "2.14.1",
            "2.14",
            "2.13",
            "2.12",
            "2.11",
            "2.0.10",
            "2.0.9",
            "2.0.8",
            "2.0.7",
            "2.0.6",
            "2.0.5",
            "2.0.4",
            "2.0.3",
            "2.0",
            "1.9.4",
            "1.9.3",
            "1.9.2",
            "1.9.1",
            "1.9",
            "ppa",
            "1.7.3+20160310ubuntu1",
            "1.7.3+20160308ubuntu1",
            "1.7.3+20160303ubuntu4",
            "1.7.3+20160303ubuntu3",
            "1.7.3+20160303ubuntu2",
            "1.7.3+20160303ubuntu1",
            "1.7.3+20160225ubuntu1",
            "1.7.2+20160223ubuntu1",
            "1.7.2+20160204ubuntu1",
            "1.7.2+20160113ubuntu1",
            "1.7.2ubuntu1",
            "1.7ubuntu1",
            "1.6ubuntu1",
            "1.5ubuntu1",
            "1.4ubuntu1",
            "1.3ubuntu1",
            "1.2-0ubuntu1",
            "1.1.2-0ubuntu1",
            "1.1.1-0ubuntu1",
            "1.1-0ubuntu1",
            "1.0.1-0ubuntu1",
            "1.0-0ubuntu1"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-3888.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:35.817501361Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/canonical",
        "https://github.com/canonical/snapd/",
        "https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/snapd",
        "https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/bionic",
        "https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/focal",
        "https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/jammy",
        "https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/noble",
        "https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/xenial",
        "https://cdn2.qualys.com/advisory/2026/03/17/snap-confine-systemd-tmpfiles.txt",
        "https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/snapd-local-privilege-escalation-cve-2026-3888",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/3xxx/CVE-2026-3888.json",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-3888",
        "https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8102-1",
        "https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-3888",
        "https://blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2026/03/17/cve-2026-3888-important-snap-flaw-enables-local-privilege-escalation-to-root"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-268"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "canonical",
        "unresolved_ranges": [
          {
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "range": [
                  {
                    "fixed": "2.61.4ubuntu0.16.04.1+esm2"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "2.61.4ubuntu0.18.04.1+esm2"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "2.67.1+20.04ubuntu1~esm1"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "2.73+ubuntu22.04.1"
                  },
                  {
                    "fixed": "2.73+ubuntu24.04.2"
                  }
                ],
                "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                "strategy": "InverseAffectedRanges"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/3xxx/CVE-2026-3888.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2026-3888",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 503354,
  "published_at": "2026-03-17T14:02:08.475+00:00"
}