CVE-2026-37525
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAGL app-framework-binder (afb-daemon) through v19.90.0 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the supervision Do command. The on_supervision_call function in src/afb-supervision.c explicitly nullifies the request credentials by calling afb_context_change_cred(&xreq->context, NULL) before dispatching an attacker-controlled API call via xapi->itf->call(xapi->closure, xreq). The NULL propagation chain through afb-context.c:110 (context->credentials = afb_cred_addref(NULL)) and afb-cred.c:163 (returns NULL when cred is NULL) confirms that credentials are zeroed before the target API executes. The attacker controls both api and verb parameters via JSON input, allowing execution of any registered API with a NULL credential context. APIs that rely on context->credentials for authorization decisions may fail open when receiving NULL credentials, enabling privilege escalation. This vulnerability was introduced in commit abbb4599f0b921c6f434b6bd02bcfb277eecf745 on 2018-02-14.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe afb-daemon supervision Do command explicitly nullifies request credentials before dispatching API calls, allowing attackers to execute any registered API with NULL credentials. This causes authorization checks relying on context->credentials to fail open, enabling privilege escalation.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 17.1.12CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if afb-daemon is installedSearch for the afb-daemon binary or package in the system (e.g., 'which afb-daemon', 'dpkg -l | grep afb', or 'rpm -qa | grep afb')Affected if afb-daemon binary or package exists on the system
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Determine the Automotive Grade Linux versionCheck the AGI version file (commonly /etc/os-release or /etc/agVersion) or the ag-info command outputAffected if The version is 17.1.12 or lower
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Check if supervision API is exposedInspect the afb-daemon configuration (typically in /etc/afb-daemon/ or defined in the systemd service) for 'supervision' or 'supervision-call' API bindingsAffected if The supervision API is registered and accessible
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Inspect the afb-daemon source or binary for credential nullificationIf source is available, review the on_supervision_call function for explicit 'context->credentials = NULL' or equivalent; if only binary, use strings/objdump to search for credential nullification patterns in the supervision handling codeAffected if Code explicitly sets credentials to NULL before dispatching API calls
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Identify APIs that rely on context->credentials for authorizationReview registered API implementations for authorization checks that reference context->credentials without NULL handlingAffected if Any registered API performs authorization based on credentials without rejecting NULL contexts
If afb-daemon is present with AGI version 17.1.12 or lower and the supervision Do command is accessible, the credential nullification vulnerability is likely present and authorization may fail open.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataAvoid nullifying credentials before dispatching API calls in on_supervision_call; ensure all APIs properly handle or reject NULL credential contexts rather than failing open.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-37525 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-37525 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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