CVE-2026-5223

Crates in third party registries can override the cached source of other crates

MEDIUM
5.3
CVSS Score
Published: May 25, 2026 at 08:57 AM UTC
Updated: July 23, 2026 at 07:32 PM UTC
2 products affected across 1 vendorLang CargoCargo

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Severity
MEDIUM5.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Cargo incorrectly handled symlinks inside of crate tarballs downloaded from third-party registries, allowing a malicious crate to override the source code of another crate from the same registry. The severity of the vulnerability is **medium** for users of third-party registries. Users of crates.io are **not affected**, as crates.io forbids uploading crates containing any symlink.

Affected

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

v < 1.96.0
Affected range stops below 1.96.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
1.0.0 ≤ v < 1.96.01.0.0
Affected range stops below 1.96.0, 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:

References (3)

Vendor AdvisoryMailing ListThird Party Advisory
Source: cverecord
https://groups.google.com/g/rustlang-security-announcements/c/IB74S7Yksg8
Vendor AdvisoryMitigation
Source: cverecord
https://blog.rust-lang.org/2026/05/25/cve-2026-5223/
PatchIssue Tracking
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/pull/17031

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

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

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-61

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