Attackers with control over a temporary file used by a vulnerable application
will be able to modify it in a way that will affect the application's logic.
By changing this file's Access Control List or other operating system-level
properties, they could prevent the file from being deleted or emptied. They
may also alter the file's content before or while the application uses it.

Depending on why and how the affected temporary files are used, the exploitation
of a race condition in an application can have various consequences. They can
range from sensitive information disclosure to more serious application or
hosting infrastructure compromise.

==== Information disclosure

Because attackers can control the permissions set on temporary files and prevent
their removal, they can read what the application stores in them. This might be
especially critical if this information is sensitive.

For example, an application might use temporary files to store users'
session-related information. In such a case, attackers controlling those files
can access session-stored information. This might allow them to take over
authenticated users' identities and entitlements.

==== Attack surface extension

An application might use temporary files to store technical data for further
reuse or as a communication channel between multiple components. In that case,
it might consider those files part of the trust boundaries and use their content
without additional security validation or sanitation. In such a case, an
attacker controlling the file content might use it as an attack vector for
further compromise.

For example, an application might store serialized data in temporary files for
later use. In such a case, attackers controlling those files' content can change
it in a way that will lead to an insecure deserialization exploitation. It might
allow them to execute arbitrary code on the application hosting server and
take it over.