Live › vulnerability › CVE-2026-85498
A bug in polkit's authentication agent helper mishandles input that starts with a null byte, causing an integer underflow and an out-of-bounds memory read. An attacker who can supply crafted input can crash the process, causing a denial of service.
Summary written from the sources below. Check the originals before acting.
First seen by InfraStack 2026-10-29 09:23 UTC. All times on this page are UTC.
Systems running polkit with its authentication agent helper, typically Linux servers and desktops. The sources do not say which polkit versions are affected or which input path reaches the flaw, so the exposed set is unknown. Teams that do not run polkit's authentication agent helper are unlikely to be affected.
No product ranges from the sources yet.
Unknown from the sources.
No fix yet, per the sources.
Each row is the first time that source carried this signal. The analyst’s rows are its own findings.
A flaw was found in polkit. When processing input that begins with a null byte, an arithmetic error in the authentication agent helper causes an integer underflow during buffer length calculation, resulting in an out-of-bounds memory read. An attacker capable of supplying crafted input can trigger this flaw, potentially causing an application crash and resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
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