Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-40505

medium Nessus Plugin ID 306842

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.

- MuPDF before 1.27 contains an ANSI injection vulnerability in mutool that allows attackers to inject arbitrary ANSI escape sequences through crafted PDF metadata fields. Attackers can embed malicious ANSI escape codes in PDF metadata that are passed unsanitized to terminal output when running mutool info, enabling them to manipulate terminal display for social engineering attacks such as presenting fake prompts or spoofed commands. (CVE-2026-40505)

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://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-40505

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-40505

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 306842

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_40505.nasl

Version: 1.6

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 4/16/2026

Updated: 5/1/2026

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.4

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.8

Threat Score: 1.1

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:mupdf, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:mupdf, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0

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: 4/16/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-40505