CVE-2026-46333

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Important Important Impact What does this mean?
7.8 CVSS v3 Base Score

Description

A vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel that allows an unprivileged local user to read sensitive files normally restricted to the root user. The flaw occurs during process exit, where a brief window allows an attacker to intercept file access from a privileged process before it fully terminates. Successful exploitation may lead to the disclosure of sensitive data such as SSH host private keys or /etc/shadow contents.

Statement

This is an Important flaw in the Linux kernel that allows a local unprivileged attacker to read root-owned files. The vulnerability arises from a race condition during process termination, enabling a brief window where sensitive data, such as SSH host private keys or /etc/shadow contents, can be disclosed. This could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information on affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems.

In OpenShift Container Platform 4, this flaw is rated Low. The default restricted-v2 Security Context Constraint (SCC) sets allowPrivilegeEscalation: false on all pods, which causes the kernel to ignore setuid file bits and prevents target binaries from opening privileged files, breaking the exploit chain entirely. Under non-default SCCs such as anyuid that permit privilege escalation, the vulnerability is constrained by PID and mount namespace isolation to the container's own filesystem. An attacker would only be able to access root-owned files already within the container, not host or cross-pod resources. In practice, containers rarely contain sensitive root-owned files that are not already accessible to the pod user through normal means.

Mitigation

See the security bulletin for a detailed mitigation procedure.

Additional Information

External References

Content from www.cve.org is not included.https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46333

Content from nvd.nist.gov is not included.https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46333

Content from blog.qualys.com is not included.https://blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2026/05/20/cve-2026-46333-local-root-privilege-escalation-and-credential-disclosure-in-the-linux-kernel-ptrace-path

Content from github.com is not included.https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/31e62c2ebbfdc3fe3dbdf5e02c92a9dc67087a3a

Affected Packages and Issued Red Hat Security Errata

Products / Services Components State Errata
NVIDIA for RHEL 10 kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:19540
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel Fixed This content is not included.RHSA-2026:19569
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0 Extended Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:20299
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 kernel Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel-rt Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel-rt Fixed RHSA-2026:19664
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:19666
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:20130
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-On kernel Fixed RHSA-2026:20130
Unless explicitly stated as not affected, all previous versions of packages in any minor update stream of a product listed here should be assumed vulnerable, although may not have been subject to full analysis.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authorities (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications ).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown Red Hat NVD
CVSS v3 Base Score 7.8
Attack Vector Local
Attack Complexity Low
Privileges Required Low
User Interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact High
Integrity Impact High
Availability Impact High

CVSS v3 Vector

Red Hat CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

 For open source software shipped by multiple vendors, the CVSS base scores may vary for each vendor's version depending on the version they ship, how they ship it, the platform, and even how the software is compiled. This makes scoring of vulnerabilities difficult for third-party vulnerability databases such as NVD that only provide a single CVSS base score for each vulnerability. Red Hat scores reflect how a vulnerability affects our products specifically.

For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/762393.

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?
  • "Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.
  • "Affected" means that our Analysis Team has determined that this product is affected by this vulnerability and might release a fix to address this in the near future.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

 A "will not fix" status means that a fix for an affected product version is not planned or not possible due to complexity, which may create additional risk.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

 A deferred status means that a fix for an affected product version is not guaranteed due to higher-priority development work.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.
  • Red Hat Engineering focuses on addressing high-priority issues based on their complexity or limited lifecycle support. Therefore, lower-priority issues will not receive immediate fixes.

What is a mitigation?

 A mitigation is an action that can be taken to reduce the impact of a security vulnerability, without deploying any fixes.

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

 The listed products were found to include one or more of the components that this vulnerability affects. These products underwent a thorough evaluation to determine their affectedness by this vulnerability. Note that layered products (such as container-based offerings) that consume affected components from any of the products listed in this table may be affected and are not represented.

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

 In order to maintain code stability and compatibility, Red Hat usually does not rebase packages to entirely new versions. Instead, we backport fixes and new features to an older version of the package we distribute. This can result in some security scanners that only consider the package version to report the package as vulnerable. To avoid this, we suggest that you use an approved vulnerability scanner from our This content is not included.Red Hat Vulnerability Scanner Certification program.

My product is listed as "Out of Support Scope". What does this mean?

 When a product is listed as "Out of Support Scope", it means a vulnerability with the impact level assigned to this CVE is no longer covered by its current support lifecycle phase. The product has been identified to contain the impacted component, but analysis to determine whether it is affected or not by this vulnerability was not performed. The product should be assumed to be affected. Customers are advised to apply any mitigation options documented on this page, consider removing or disabling the impacted component, or upgrade to a supported version of the product that has an update available.