CIFS-UTILS PrivEsc via request_key and malicious NSS Module
CVE-2026-12505 Published on June 18, 2026

Cifs-utils: local privilege escalation via forged cifs.spnego key description in cifs.upcall
A flaw was found in the cifs-utils package where the cifs.upcall helper fails to securely drop its root privileges before looking up user information inside a user-controlled environment. A local, low privileged attacker can exploit this by using a crafted request_key payload to trick the root-owned helper into entering a custom environment (namespace) containing a malicious NSS module. This forces the system to load the attacker's controlled NSS Module and configuration, allowing them to execute arbitrary commands as the root user, elevating their privileges and fully compromising the system.

Vendor Advisory NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-12505 can be exploited with local system access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
LOCAL
Attack Complexity:
LOW
Privileges Required:
LOW
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Timeline

Reported to Red Hat.

Made public.

Weakness Type

Execution with Unnecessary Privileges

The software performs an operation at a privilege level that is higher than the minimum level required, which creates new weaknesses or amplifies the consequences of other weaknesses.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-12505

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
 
Red Hat Openshift
 

Affected Versions

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4: Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10): Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10): Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
0.12%
Percentile
2.07%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.