Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-22028

critical Nessus Plugin ID 282480

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

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

- Preact, a lightweight web development framework, JSON serialization protection to prevent Virtual DOM elements from being constructed from arbitrary JSON. A regression introduced in Preact 10.26.5 caused this protection to be softened. In applications where values from JSON payloads are assumed to be strings and passed unmodified to Preact as children, a specially-crafted JSON payload could be constructed that would be incorrectly treated as a valid VNode. When this chain of failures occurs it can result in HTML injection, which can allow arbitrary script execution if not mitigated by CSP or other means. Applications using affected Preact versions are vulnerable if they meet all of the following conditions: first, pass unmodified, unsanitized values from user-modifiable data sources (APIs, databases, local storage, etc.) directly into the render tree; second assume these values are strings but the data source could return actual JavaScript objects instead of JSON strings; and third, the data source either fails to perform type sanitization AND blindly stores/returns raw objects interchangeably with strings, OR is compromised (e.g., poisoned local storage, filesystem, or database). Versions 10.26.10, 10.27.3, and 10.28.2 patch the issue.
The patch versions restore the previous strict equality checks that prevent JSON-parsed objects from being treated as valid VNodes. Other mitigations are available for those who cannot immediately upgrade.
Validate input types, cast or validate network data, sanitize external data, and use Content Security Policy (CSP). (CVE-2026-22028)

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

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2026-22028

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-22028

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-22028

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 282480

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_22028.nasl

Version: 1.4

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 1/8/2026

Updated: 1/10/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Temporal Score: 5.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-22028

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.7

Temporal Score: 8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.2

Threat Score: 7.2

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:polkit, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:polkit-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:polkit-docs, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:polkit-libs, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.04, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:node-preact, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:node-preact

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 1/7/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-22028