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CurlApplication · Haxx

CVE-2026-8926

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.21.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available 8 weeks old

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 · unedited
When asking curl to use a `.netrc` file to find credentials and at the same time specifying a URL with a username(without a password), like `https://[email protected]/`, curl could wrongly get and use the password for *another* user set in the `.netrc` file for that host if such a one exists and there is no match for the specified user.

In the news

Third-party coverage
Trending covered by 2 outlets this week · latest 2mo ago

Surfaced from public web coverage — external links open in a new tab.

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 confidence

In curl's .netrc credential handling, when a URL specifies a username without a password (e.g., https://[email protected]/), curl incorrectly retrieves and uses the password for a different user defined in the .netrc file for that host if no exact username match exists. This causes authentication credentials to be sent to the wrong user account.

MitigationAvoid using .netrc files with URLs containing usernames; instead specify passwords in the URL or use environment variables. Apply curl security updates when available.

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
CurlApplication
Affected:>= 8.11.1, < 8.21.0

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
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine curl version
    Run `curl --version` and note the version number displayed (typically on the first line)
    Affected if The version shown is greater than or equal to 8.11.1 and less than 8.21.0
  2. Identify .netrc file usage
    Check for existence of .netrc (Linux/macOS) or _netrc (Windows) in the home directory, and verify whether curl is being invoked with the --netrc or --netrc-optional flag, or if NETRC environment variable is set to 'optional' or 'forced'
    Affected if A .netrc or _netrc file exists and curl is configured to use it (default behavior or explicit --netrc flag)
  3. Check for URLs with username but no password
    Review application code, scripts, or configuration files that invoke curl to identify URLs in the format https://username@hostname/ (where password is not included in the URL)
    Affected if curl is being used with URLs that specify a username but no password in the URL itself
  4. Examine .netrc credentials for the target host
    If a vulnerable URL targets a specific host, examine the .netrc file and look for that host entry; check whether multiple user entries exist for the same host or whether the username in the URL does not exactly match any username defined in .netrc for that host
    Affected if The target host has a .netrc entry with a username that does not exactly match the username in the URL being used, or multiple users are defined for that host

You are affected if your curl version is between 8.11.1 and 8.21.0 (exclusive), you use .netrc for credentials, and you invoke curl with URLs containing a username but no password for a host where the .netrc file either has no matching username or has multiple user entries.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 8.21.0 or later
Fixed in 8.21.0
Vendor patch curl.se →
Interim mitigation

Avoid using .netrc files with URLs containing usernames; instead specify passwords in the URL or use environment variables. Apply curl security updates when available.

Recommended fix High confidence

curl 8.21.0 or later

  1. Check the current curl version installed (e.g., `curl --version` or `rpm -q curl` / `dpkg -l curl`)
  2. Upgrade curl to version 8.21.0 or later using your system's package manager (e.g., `apt-get update && apt-get install curl`, `yum update curl`, or `brew upgrade curl`)
  3. Verify the upgraded version is 8.21.0 or later by running `curl --version`
  4. Test that .netrc credential handling works correctly with the fixed version
Caveat Patch releases typically have minimal breaking changes, but test in non-production first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Curl Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-8926 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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