Buffer Overflow Vulnerability in Polkit Affects Red Hat Products
CVE-2026-85498

3.5LOW

Key Information:

Vendor

Red Hat
Status
Red Hat Hardened Images
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Vendor
CVE Published:
29 October 2026

What is CVE-2026-85498?

A flaw has been identified in Polkit that results in an arithmetic error when processing input that begins with a null byte. This integer underflow leads to a miscalculation of buffer length, which can cause an out-of-bounds memory read. An attacker who is able to supply specially crafted input can exploit this vulnerability, potentially leading to application crashes and a Denial of Service (DoS) condition.

Affected Version(s)

Red Hat Hardened Images 127-5.1.hum1

References

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:66287
vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-85498
vdb-entryx_refsource_REDHAT
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2528347
issue-trackingx_refsource_REDHAT

CVSS V3.1

Score:
3.5
Severity:
LOW
Confidentiality:
None
Integrity:
None
Availability:
None
Attack Vector:
Adjacent Network
Attack Complexity:
Low
Privileges Required:
Low
User Interaction:
None
Scope:
Unchanged

Timeline

  • Vulnerability published

  • Vulnerability Reserved

Credit

Red Hat would like to thank Juthawong Naisanguansee for reporting this issue.
.