Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition in py3-virtualenv - CVE-2026-22702

Vulnerability identifier: #VU121190

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 4.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-22702

CWE-ID: CWE-367

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.

The vulnerability exists due to a race condition between directory existence checks and creation to redirect virtualenv's app_data and lock file operations to attacker-controlled locations. A local user can gain access to sensitive information, poison cache or perform a denial of service attack.

py3-virtualenv
watsonx Code Assistant On Prem
Maximo Application Suite - Edge Data Collector
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
Python 3 Module
openSUSE Leap
Anolis OS
openEuler
IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data
IBM Watson Discovery for IBM Cloud Pak for Data
python311-virtualenv
python3-virtualenv
python-virtualenv
python3-virtualenv-doc

Install updates from vendor's website.

py3-virtualenv - update to 20.36.1
IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge for IBM Cloud Pak for Data - update to 5.3.1
IBM Watson Discovery for IBM Cloud Pak for Data - update to 5.3.1
watsonx Code Assistant On Prem - update to 5.3.1
Maximo Application Suite - Edge Data Collector - addressed in versions 8.11.27, 9.0.19, 9.1.9
python311-virtualenv - update to 20.22.0-150400.9.9.1
python3-virtualenv - update to 20.26.6-2
python-virtualenv - update to 20.26.6-2
python3-virtualenv - update to 20.28.0-2
python3-virtualenv-doc - update to 20.28.0-2

• https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/security/advisories/GHSA-597g-3phw-6986
• https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3013/commits/b338d8cee138c2fd98f788ec295f8f2f719f53c2
• https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3013

• Race condition in virtualenv
• openEuler 24.03 LTS SP1 update for python-virtualenv
• openEuler 24.03 LTS update for python-virtualenv
• openEuler 24.03 LTS SP3 update for python-virtualenv
• openEuler 24.03 LTS SP2 update for python-virtualenv
• SUSE update for python-virtualenv
• Anolis OS update for python-virtualenv
• IBM Watson Speech Services Cartridge update for virtualenv
• Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM watsonx Code Assistant On Prem
• IBM Edge Data Collector update for virtualenv
• IBM Watson Discovery Cartridge update for virtualenv