GNU Emacs version 25.3.1 (and other versions most likely) ignores umask when creating a backup save file ("[ORIGINAL_FILENAME]~") resulting…

published 2017-10-31 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-1542

cvss: 5.5; version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.4%; EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 36%
public exploits: 0; none known

GNU Emacs version 25.3.1 (and other versions most likely) ignores umask when creating a backup save file ("[ORIGINAL_FILENAME]~") resulting in files that may be world readable or otherwise accessible in ways not intended by the user running the emacs binary.

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2017-1000383 updated 2026-11-06 cvss 5.5

emacs: Ignores umask when creating a swap file

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 emacs Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common, emacs-terminal, emacs-filesystem
affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 emacs, emacs-nox, emacs-lucid, emacs-common, emacs-filesystem
affected: no fix available

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.42% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 36% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.0	5.5	CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD	2.0	2.1	AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Classification

Weakness

CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

References

openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2017/10/31/1
mailing-list, third-party-advisory
securityfocus.com /bid/101671
vdb-entry, third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2017-1000383
NVD CVE-2017-1000383

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary