A flaw was found in dracut. A remote attacker on the adjacent network can exploit this vulnerability by providing specially crafted DHCP options, such as a malicious root-path, next-server, or bootfile name, to a system using dracut's NetworkManager-based initrd network module. These options are improperly handled and written into a temporary shell script without proper escaping, leading to command injection. This allows the attacker to achieve root code execution within the initramfs during system boot.

The remote openSUSE 16 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the openSUSE-SU-2026:21749-1 advisory.

    Update to version 059+suse.730.g73d3411aa.

    - CVE-2026-6893: improper handling and escaping of DHCP options can lead to command injection and root     code execution       within the `initramfs` (bsc#1268322).
    - CVE-2026-16445: improper handling and escaping of DHCP options can lead to command injection and root     code execution       within the `initramfs` during system boot (bsc#1273580).

    Changes for dracut:

    - Update to version 059+suse.730.g73d3411aa:
      * fix(network-legacy): sanitize values written to /tmp/net.${netif}.override
      * fix(network-legacy): sanitize values written to /tmp/net.${netif}.gw
      * fix(network-legacy): sanitize values written to /tmp/net.${netif}.hostname
      * fix(network-legacy): strip DHCP-supplied domain to a safe charset

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 8 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the RHSA-2026:61252 advisory.

    The dracut packages contain an event-driven initial RAM file system (initramfs) generator infrastructure     based on the udev device manager. The virtual file system, initramfs, is loaded together with the kernel     at boot time and initializes the system, so it can read and boot from the root partition.

    Security Fix(es):

    * dracut: dracut: Root code execution via DHCP options command injection (CVE-2026-6893)

    * dracut: dracut: root code execution via unescaped error message written to sourced emergency hook script     in die() (CVE-2026-15816)

    * dracut: dracut: Root code execution via DHCP options command injection in NetworkManager initrd module     (CVE-2026-16445)

    For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and     other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Unity Linux 20 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the UTSA-2026-102692 advisory.

    A flaw was found in dracut. A remote attacker on the adjacent network can exploit this vulnerability by     providing specially crafted DHCP options, such as a malicious root-path, next-server, or bootfile name, to     a system using dracut's NetworkManager-based initrd network module. These options are improperly handled     and written into a temporary shell script without proper escaping, leading to command injection. This     allows the attacker to achieve root code execution within the initramfs during system boot.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Unity Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - A flaw was found in dracut. A remote attacker on the adjacent network can exploit this vulnerability by     providing specially crafted DHCP options, such as a malicious root-path, next-server, or bootfile name, to     a system using dracut's NetworkManager-based initrd network module. These options are improperly handled     and written into a temporary shell script without proper escaping, leading to command injection. This     allows the attacker to achieve root code execution within the initramfs during system boot.
    (CVE-2026-16445)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
343941	openSUSE 16 Security Update : dracut (openSUSE-SU-2026:21749-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	high
341626	RHEL 8 : dracut (RHSA-2026:61252)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	Local	high
338184	Unity Linux 20.1050e / 20.1060e / 20.1070e Security Update: dracut (UTSA-2026-102692)	Nessus	Unity Linux Local Security Checks	Local	high
329406	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-16445	Nessus	Misc.	Local	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2026-16445

high

Tenable Plugins

high

high

high

high