CVE-2022-21658
HIGHDescription
Rust is a multi-paradigm, general-purpose programming language designed for performance and safety, especially safe concurrency. The Rust Security Response WG was notified that the `std::fs::remove_dir_all` standard library function is vulnerable a race condition enabling symlink following (CWE-363). An attacker could use this security issue to trick a privileged program into deleting files and directories the attacker couldn't otherwise access or delete. Rust 1.0.0 through Rust 1.58.0 is affected by this vulnerability with 1.58.1 containing a patch. Note that the following build targets don't have usable APIs to properly mitigate the attack, and are thus still vulnerable even with a patched toolchain: macOS before version 10.10 (Yosemite) and REDOX. We recommend everyone to update to Rust 1.58.1 as soon as possible, especially people developing programs expected to run in privileged contexts (including system daemons and setuid binaries), as those have the highest risk of being affected by this. Note that adding checks in your codebase before calling remove_dir_all will not mitigate the vulnerability, as they would also be vulnerable to race conditions like remove_dir_all itself. The existing mitigation is working as intended outside of race conditions.
How to fix
TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Moderate risk: more likely to be exploited than 69% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-363 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2025-31133 | High | 7.8 | 0.8% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2025-52565 | High | 7.5 | 0.6% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-27102 | Critical | 9.9 | 0.5% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2025-52881 | High | 7.3 | 0.5% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-45310 | Low | 3.6 | 0.3% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2025-62596 | Critical | 10.0 | 0.2% | - | Fix |
Common questions
How do I fix CVE-2022-21658?
Upgrade rustc on debian 12 to 1.57.0+dfsg1-1 or later.
Is CVE-2022-21658 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2022-21658 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 1.4% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 69% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2022-21658?
CVE-2022-21658 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.3, rated high. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
What does CVE-2022-21658 affect?
Published advisories record a fix for rustc (Debian). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.
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Markdown
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2024-11-21.