Highly exploitable, CVE-2026-25506 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.
Status: Analyzed
Last updated: 🕠 25 Feb 2026, 17:39 UTC
Originally published on: 🕖 10 Feb 2026, 19:16 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 14 days
CVSS Release: version 3
security-advisories@github.com
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
CVE-2026-25506: MUNGE is an authentication service for creating and validating user credentials. From 0.5 to 0.5.17, local attacker can exploit a buffer overflow vulnerability in munged (the MUNGE authentication daemon) to leak cryptographic key material from process memory. With the leaked key material, the attacker could forge arbitrary MUNGE credentials to impersonate any user (including root) to services that rely on MUNGE for authentication. The vulnerability allows a buffer overflow by sending a crafted message with an oversized address length field, corrupting munged's internal state and enabling extraction of the MAC subkey used for credential verification. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.5.18.
The exploitability of CVE-2026-25506 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
This vulnerability, CVE-2026-25506, requires a high level of attack complexity and low privileges, making it difficult but not impossible to exploit. Organizations should ensure robust security configurations to mitigate risks.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2026-25506, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2026-25506, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
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