Low · CVSS 3.5CVE-2026-85498

Polkit: regression in cve-2026-4897 fix (polkit read_cookie()) - stack buffer underflowCVE-2026-85498

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-85498 records a Low severity (CVSS 3.5) vulnerability in Polkit: regression in cve-2026-4897 fix (polkit read_cookie()) - stack buffer underflow. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Red Hat/openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8 (generic), Red Hat/openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 (generic), Red Hat/polkit (generic), Red Hat/polkit-gnome (generic) and additional mapped packages. Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Analysis pending evidence review

HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.

Published Oct 29, 2026Updated Oct 29, 2026Source checked Oct 29, 2026First seen by HOL Oct 29, 2026Material review Oct 29, 2026

Upstream Advisory

Key facts

Risk: Low · CVSS 3.5
Exploitation: Not marked as known exploited
Affected software: 7 mapped packages or products
Fix availability: Not reported

Why this deserves its current priority

CVSS is 3.5. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.

Analysis status

Analysis pending evidence review

Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.

Affected scope and exposure questions

The current feed maps Red Hat/openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8 (generic), Red Hat/openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 (generic), Red Hat/polkit (generic), Red Hat/polkit-gnome (generic) and additional mapped packages. Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Mapped affected packages and fixed versions
Package	Affected range	Fixed version
Red Hat/openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8generic	*	Not reported
Red Hat/openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9generic	*	Not reported
Red Hat/polkitgeneric	*	Not reported
Red Hat/polkit-gnomegeneric	*	Not reported
Red Hat/polkit-kdegeneric	*	Not reported
Red Hat/polkit-pkla-compatgeneric	*	Not reported
Red Hat/polkit-qtgeneric	*	Not reported

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for Red Hat/openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8, Red Hat/openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9, Red Hat/polkit.
Review the reported fix. Source-reported workaround: Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the criteria for a mitigation as defined by the Red Hat Product Security team. This flaw remains subject to future review as new information becomes available. Exposure is limited: the defect is reachable only by a local/adjacent low-privileged user interacting with the polkit authentication agent and results at most in a crash (availability) of the affected process.

Evidence timeline and material changes

Published upstream
Oct 29, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
Source modified
Oct 29, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
First seen by HOL
Oct 29, 2026

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source description

A flaw was found in polkit. When processing input that begins with a null byte, an arithmetic error in the authentication agent helper causes an integer underflow during buffer length calculation, resulting in an out-of-bounds memory read. An attacker capable of supplying crafted input can trigger this flaw, potentially causing an application crash and resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.

Apache Qpid Proton C: Verifying non compliant TLS wildcard cert can cause stack buffer overflow readAlso CWE-125