CVE-2026-4631 is a vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
Published on April 7, 2026
Cockpit: cockpit: unauthenticated remote code execution due to ssh command-line argument injection
Cockpit's remote login feature passes user-supplied hostnames and usernames from the web interface to the SSH client without validation or sanitization. An attacker with network access to the Cockpit web service can craft a single HTTP request to the login endpoint that injects malicious SSH options or shell commands, achieving code execution on the Cockpit host without valid credentials. The injection occurs during the authentication flow before any credential verification takes place, meaning no login is required to exploit the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-4631 can be exploited with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be critical as this vulnerability has a high impact to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this component.
Timeline
Reported to Red Hat.
Made public. 15 days later.
Weakness Type
What is a Shell injection Vulnerability?
The software constructs all or part of an OS command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended OS command when it is sent to a downstream component.
CVE-2026-4631 has been classified to as a Shell injection vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-4631
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