Critical severity · published Apr 21, 2026
CVE-2026-39861
Claude Code: Sandbox Escape via Symlink Following Allows Arbitrary File Write Outside Workspace
10.0
CVSS
0.7%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. Prior to version 2.1.64, Claude Code's sandbox did not prevent sandboxed processes from creating symlinks pointing to locations outside the workspace. When Claude Code subsequently wrote to a path within such a symlink, its unsandboxed process followed the symlink and wrote to the target location outside the workspace without prompting the user for confirmation. This allowed a sandbox escape where neither the sandboxed command nor the unsandboxed app could independently write outside the workspace, but their combination could write to arbitrary locations, potentially leading to code execution outside the sandbox. Reliably exploiting this required the ability to add untrusted content into a Claude Code context window to trigger sandboxed code execution via prompt injection. Users on standard Claude Code auto-update have received this fix automatically. Users performing manual updates are advised to update to version 2.1.64 or later.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.7% · higher than 53% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
CL
claude-code · anthropics
< 2.1.64 · source: vendor
CC
Claude Code · Anthropic
before 2.1.64 · source: NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-39861
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-39861
Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/security/advisories/GHSA-vp62-r36r-9xqp
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