SonicWall Patches Critical Path Traversal and Update Flaws in NetExtender for Linux
SonicWall has corrected two serious vulnerabilities in NetExtender for Linux that could permit arbitrary file writes with elevated privileges and interference with the update process.
The issues affect versions 10.3.5 and earlier. The more critical flaw, CVE-2026-66152, received a CVSS score of 8.8 and involves a path traversal vulnerability during processing of an OPSWAT file in tar format. A remote attacker can supply specially crafted paths to cause files to escape the expected directory during extraction. Because the operation runs with root privileges, files can be written to sensitive system locations. Depending on the environment, this may enable configuration changes, insertion of malicious scripts, or modification of files later loaded by privileged processes. Exploitation requires user interaction.
The second vulnerability, CVE-2026-66153, carries a CVSS score of 7.0 and affects the automatic update process of NEService. The problem is linked to improper handling of symbolic links and temporary files. To date, there is no evidence of either vulnerability being exploited in real-world attacks. SonicWall confirmed that NetExtender for Windows is not impacted.
No workaround is available. Administrators should update NetExtender Linux to version 10.3.6 or later without delay and verify any endpoints still running older builds.
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