CVE-2026-4631
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 · uneditedCockpit's remote login feature passes user-supplied hostnames and usernames from the web interface to the SSH client without validation or sanitization. An attacker with network access to the Cockpit web service can craft a single HTTP request to the login endpoint that injects malicious SSH options or shell commands, achieving code execution on the Cockpit host without valid credentials. The injection occurs during the authentication flow before any credential verification takes place, meaning no login is required to exploit the vulnerability.
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 confidenceCockpit's remote login feature passes unsanitized user-supplied hostnames and usernames directly to the SSH client, allowing injection of malicious SSH options or shell commands via crafted HTTP requests to the login endpoint. This command injection occurs before any credential verification, enabling unauthenticated remote code execution on the host.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 Cockpit installation and versionRun 'cockpit --version' or check package manager for installed cockpit version (e.g., 'rpm -q cockpit' or 'dpkg -l cockpit')Affected if Cockpit is installed and version falls within the affected range (compare to available patches or release notes for CVE-2026-4631)
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Confirm remote login feature is enabledInspect Cockpit configuration files (typically in /etc/cockpit/ or ~/.config/cockpit/) for remote login or SSH connection settings; check the web interface for remote server login options under the SSH/Remote sectionAffected if Remote login feature is enabled and accessible to users or attackers
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Verify input sanitization on login endpointReview Cockpit source code or configuration for hostname/username parameter handling; search for direct concatenation of user input into SSH command strings without validation or escapingAffected if Hostname and username parameters are passed directly to SSH client without sanitization or escaping functions
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Check for exposed login interfaceDetermine if Cockpit web service is listening on network interfaces (check with 'netstat -tlnp' or 'ss -tlnp' for ports 9090 or configured HTTP/HTTPS ports); verify if authentication is required for all endpointsAffected if Cockpit login endpoint is reachable from network without proper authentication or rate limiting
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Inspect SSH command constructionExamine Cockpit logs or debug output for SSH command execution patterns; search for process execution logs showing hostname/username in command argumentsAffected if SSH commands are constructed using user-supplied hostnames/usernames without parameterization or validation
You are affected if Cockpit with remote login enabled is exposed and lacks proper input sanitization for hostname/username parameters before they are passed to the SSH client.
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 dataImplement strict input validation and sanitization for all user-supplied hostname and username parameters before passing them to the SSH client; consider using an allowlist approach for valid characters and restricting SSH client options to prevent command injection.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-4631 — 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-2026-4631 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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