Vulnerability · Published Sep 23, 2026 · Assigned by redhat
CVE-2026-88839Busybox: busybox: passwd/group parser writes heap pointers out of bounds due to stale tokenize() endpoint
Medium 6.7
In plain English
A medium-severity out-of-bounds write in Red Hat Hardened Images from Red Hat. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 2% of all known vulnerabilities).
Severity (CVSS 3.1)6.7Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 97.9% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known
Official description
BusyBox passwd/group tokenize() references a stale endpoint pointer after trimming, causing an out-of-bounds write of heap pointers.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:12 | busybox | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-88839 |
| Debian:13 | busybox | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-88839 |
| Debian:14 | busybox | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-88839 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | busybox | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-88839 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | busybox | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-88839 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | busybox | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-88839 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | busybox | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-88839 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat | Red Hat Hardened Images | see references |
Weakness: CWE-787 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
References
- RHSA-2026:72111 vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-88839 vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2531353 issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT