Openshift Container PlatformApplication · Redhat
CVE-2026-4897
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 · uneditedA flaw was found in polkit. A local user can exploit this by providing a specially crafted, excessively long input to the `polkit-agent-helper-1` setuid binary via standard input (stdin). This unbounded input can lead to an out-of-memory (OOM) condition, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for the system.
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 · moderate confidenceA local privilege escalation and denial-of-service vulnerability exists in polkit's setuid helper binary `polkit-agent-helper-1`. A local attacker can trigger an out-of-memory condition by providing an excessively long, specially crafted input via standard input (stdin), causing system-wide DoS.
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
Openshift Container PlatformApplication
= 4.0
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0all versionsCVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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.
-
Check if polkit package is installedOn RHEL-based systems: rpm -qa | grep -i polkit. On Debian-based: dpkg -l | grep -i polkit. On general Linux: which pkexec or which polkit-agent-helper-1Affected if polkit package is installed (any version since all versions are affected)
-
Determine polkit versionOn RHEL: rpm -q --queryformat '%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}' polkit. On Debian: dpkg -s polkit | grep Version. Compare against affected Red Hat versions 6.0-10.0Affected if version matches or falls within the listed affected versions, or is any version of Freedesktop Polkit (all versions affected)
-
Verify polkit-agent-helper-1 binary existsls -la /usr/lib/polkit-1/polkit-agent-helper-1 or which polkit-agent-helper-1Affected if binary exists on the system (prerequisite for the vulnerability)
-
Check if polkit daemon is runningsystemctl status polkit or ps aux | grep polkitAffected if polkit service is active and running (enables the attack surface)
-
Inspect binary permissions and setuid bitls -la /usr/lib/polkit-1/polkit-agent-helper-1 - look for 's' in owner execute field indicating setuid rootAffected if binary has setuid permissions (enables local privilege escalation aspect of the flaw)
System is affected if polkit is installed and the polkit-agent-helper-1 binary is present with setuid permissions, allowing a local attacker to trigger OOM via excessively long stdin input.
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 dataApply vendor patches for polkit when available; until then, consider restricting local user access, monitoring system memory, and potentially implementing systemd resource limits or containerization to mitigate OOM risk.
Fix this in Openshift Container Platform
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-4897 — 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-2026-4897 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data