CVE-2026-4897

Polkit: polkit: denial of service via unbounded input processing through standard input

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS Score
Published: March 26, 2026 at 02:56 PM UTC
Updated: September 10, 2026 at 06:18 PM UTC
3 products affected across 2 vendorsEnterprise LinuxOpenShift Container PlatformPolkit

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Severity
MEDIUM5.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

A flaw was found in polkit. A local user can exploit this by providing a specially crafted, excessively long input to the `polkit-agent-helper-1` setuid binary via standard input (stdin). This unbounded input can lead to an out-of-memory (OOM) condition, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for the system.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

All versions
Vendor states this is fixed in 0:125-4.el10_2.1 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (4)

VDB Entryx_refsource_REDHATVendor Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-4897
Issue Trackingx_refsource_REDHATVendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2451739
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
Source: cverecord
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:59997
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
Source: cverecord
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:66287

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

5.5MEDIUMredhat
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-770

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