CVE-2023-38497

Cargo not respecting umask when extracting crate archives

HIGH
7.3
CVSS Score
Published: August 4, 2023 at 03:51 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:10 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsFedoraLang Cargo

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Severity
HIGH7.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.7%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Cargo downloads the Rust project’s dependencies and compiles the project. Cargo prior to version 0.72.2, bundled with Rust prior to version 1.71.1, did not respect the umask when extracting crate archives on UNIX-like systems. If the user downloaded a crate containing files writeable by any local user, another local user could exploit this to change the source code compiled and executed by the current user. To prevent existing cached extractions from being exploitable, the Cargo binary version 0.72.2 included in Rust 1.71.1 or later will purge caches generated by older Cargo versions automatically. As a workaround, configure one's system to prevent other local users from accessing the Cargo directory, usually located in `~/.cargo`.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 0.72.2
Affected range stops below 0.72.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-278CWE-732

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