CVE-2024-12088 | Rsync: --safe-links option bypass leads to path traversal

A flaw was found in rsync. When using the `--safe-links` option, the rsync client fails to properly verify if a symbolic link destination sent from the server contains another symbolic link within it. This results in a path traversal vulnerability, which may lead to arbitrary file write outside the desired directory.

Published: 2025-01-14 Last update: 2026-04-14 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-12088 is rated Moderate Risk (55.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.47%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-12088

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-30 2.89% 2.47% -0.42%
2 2026-05-29 3.19% 2.89% -0.30%
3 2026-05-27 — 3.19% —

Full EPSS history (30 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-12088

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-12088

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-12088

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2024-12088: 1 source package rows (rsync); 25 state rows across 6 repos (3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 6, open 19. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-12088
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-12088 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (rsync), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-12088
gentoo high CVE-2024-12088: 1 GLSA(s) (202501-01), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/rsync); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2024-12088
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-12088
suse medium CVE-2024-12088 severity moderate: SUSE including 265 source package names (15.7.20.5.1:rsync-3.2.7-150600.3.8.1, 2.0.4-3.5.253:rsync-3.2.3-150400.3.17.1, …), 590 product×package rows across 322 product lines (Container bci/kiwi, Container suse/hpc/warewulf4-x86_64/sle-hpc-node, … (322 product lines)): Fixed 359, Known Affected 231. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-12088/
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-12088 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (rsync), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-12088

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-12088

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
samba rsync <= 3.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:samba:rsync:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat discovery 1.14 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:discovery:1.14:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openshift_container_platform 4.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 9.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:9.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_arm_64 8.0_aarch64 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_arm_64:8.0_aarch64:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_arm_64 9.0_aarch64 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_arm_64:9.0_aarch64:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_arm_64_eus 9.6_aarch64 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_arm_64_eus:9.6_aarch64:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems 8.0_s390x cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:8.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems 9.0_s390x cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems:9.0_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eus 9.6_s390x cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eus:9.6_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian 8.0_ppc64le cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:8.0_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian 9.0_ppc64le cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:9.0_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus 9.6_ppc64le cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus:9.6_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 9.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:9.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_for_power_little_endian_update_services_for_sap_solutions 9.6_ppc64le cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_for_power_little_endian_update_services_for_sap_solutions:9.6_ppc64le:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_update_services_for_sap_solutions 9.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_update_services_for_sap_solutions:9.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
archlinux arch_linux — cpe:2.3:o:archlinux:arch_linux:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gentoo linux — cpe:2.3:o:gentoo:linux:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
nixos nixos < 24.11 cpe:2.3:o:nixos:nixos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux — cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
tritondatacenter smartos < 20250123 cpe:2.3:o:tritondatacenter:smartos:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
almalinux almalinux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:almalinux:almalinux:8.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
almalinux almalinux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:almalinux:almalinux:9.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
almalinux almalinux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:almalinux:almalinux:10.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-12088

cvelogic Threat Intelligence