The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently handle when the file is a Windows shortcut (.LNK) whose target is outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause the product to operate on unauthorized files.

Resultant

Windows symbolic link following

symlink

Operation

Low

Confidentiality
Integrity
Read Files or Directories
Modify Files or Directories
The shortcut (file with the .lnk extension) can permit an attacker to read/write a file that they originally did not have permissions to access.

Architecture and Design
Separation of Privilege

Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.

CVE-2019-19793
network access control service executes program with high privileges and allows symlink to invoke another executable or perform DLL injection.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-19793

CVE-2000-0342
Mail client allows remote attackers to bypass the user warning for executable attachments such as .exe, .com, and .bat by using a .lnk file that refers to the attachment, aka "Stealth Attachment."
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2000-0342

CVE-2001-1042
FTP server allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files and directories by uploading a .lnk (link) file that points to the target file.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2001-1042

CVE-2001-1043
FTP server allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files and directories by uploading a .lnk (link) file that points to the target file.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2001-1043

CVE-2005-0587
Browser allows remote malicious web sites to overwrite arbitrary files by tricking the user into downloading a .LNK (link) file twice, which overwrites the file that was referenced in the first .LNK file.
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2005-0587

CVE-2001-1386
".LNK." - .LNK with trailing dot
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2001-1386

CVE-2003-1233
Rootkits can bypass file access restrictions to Windows kernel directories using NtCreateSymbolicLinkObject function to create symbolic link
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-1233

File Processing

File or Directory

Windows Shortcut Following (.LNK)

FIO05-C
Identify files using multiple file attributes

SFP18
Link in resource name resolution

Allowed
This CWE entry is at the Variant level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Under-studied. Windows .LNK files are more "portable" than Unix symlinks and have been used in remote exploits. Some Windows API's will access LNK's as if they are regular files, so one would expect that they would be reported more frequently.

PLOVER
2006-07-19
Draft 3
2006-07-19

Eric Dalci
Cigital
2008-07-01
updated Time_of_Introduction

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2008-09-08
updated Applicable_Platforms, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings, Weakness_Ordinalities

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2008-10-14
updated Description

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2008-11-24
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2011-06-01
updated Common_Consequences

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2011-09-13
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2012-05-11
updated Observed_Examples, Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2012-10-30
updated Potential_Mitigations

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2014-07-30
updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2017-11-08
updated Applicable_Platforms, Causal_Nature, Likelihood_of_Exploit, Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2019-01-03
updated Related_Attack_Patterns

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2019-06-20
updated Related_Attack_Patterns

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2020-02-24
updated Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2022-06-28
updated Observed_Examples

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-01-31
updated Description

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-04-27
updated Relationships

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2023-06-29
updated Mapping_Notes

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2025-09-09
4.18
2025-09-09
updated Affected_Resources, Functional_Areas

CWE Content Team
MITRE
2025-12-11
4.19
2025-12-11
updated Applicable_Platforms, Common_Consequences, Description