CVE-2026-16445
Published: July 22, 2026Last modified: July 28, 2026
Description
A flaw was found in dracut. A remote attacker on the adjacent network can exploit this vulnerability by providing specially crafted DHCP options, such as a malicious root-path, next-server, or bootfile name, to a system using dracut's NetworkManager-based initrd network module. These options are improperly handled and written into a temporary shell script without proper escaping, leading to command injection. This allows the attacker to achieve root code execution within the initramfs during system boot.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | ADJACENT_NETWORK |
| Attack complexity | HIGH |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | HIGH |
| Integrity impact | HIGH |
| Availability impact | HIGH |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
Notes
We don't provide NetworkManager.
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | dracut | Not affected (055-r23) |
| 25 LTS | dracut | Not affected (055-r34) | |
| Stream | dracut | Not affected (055-r25) |
References
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26534
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:40700
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-16445
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2459963
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2503147
- https://github.com/dracutdevs/dracut/commit/e509c638e6