Content Injection in libreport ABRT handler via unsanitized journal logs
CVE-2026-54231 Published on June 13, 2026
Abrt: unsanitized systemd journal content written to dump directory files enables content injection
A content injection vulnerability was found in the ABRT post-create event handler scripts in libreport. The event script queries the systemd journal for log entries matching the crashed process and writes the results to files in the dump directory without sanitizing embedded control characters. A local user can inject arbitrary content into the journal output by embedding newline characters in syslog messages, controlling the content that root writes to dump directory files.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-54231 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 have no impact on confidentiality, a high impact on integrity, and no impact on availability.
Timeline
Reported to Red Hat.
Made public.
Weakness Type
What is an Injection Vulnerability?
The software constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component. Software has certain assumptions about what constitutes data and control respectively. It is the lack of verification of these assumptions for user-controlled input that leads to injection problems. Injection problems encompass a wide variety of issues -- all mitigated in very different ways and usually attempted in order to alter the control flow of the process. For this reason, the most effective way to discuss these weaknesses is to note the distinct features which classify them as injection weaknesses. The most important issue to note is that all injection problems share one thing in common -- i.e., they allow for the injection of control plane data into the user-controlled data plane. This means that the execution of the process may be altered by sending code in through legitimate data channels, using no other mechanism. While buffer overflows, and many other flaws, involve the use of some further issue to gain execution, injection problems need only for the data to be parsed. The most classic instantiations of this category of weakness are SQL injection and format string vulnerabilities.
CVE-2026-54231 has been classified to as an Injection vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-54231
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