Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-11837

high Nessus Plugin ID 320361

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.

- A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found in the ansible.posix authorized_key module. The module's keyfile() function uses os.chown() instead of os.lchown() and opens files without O_NOFOLLOW when managing SSH authorized keys. An unprivileged local user can pre-stage symbolic links in their ~/.ssh directory to redirect file ownership changes to arbitrary system paths when an operator runs the authorized_key task as root, leading to local privilege escalation. (CVE-2026-11837)

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-2026-11837

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-11837

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-11837

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 320361

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_11837.nasl

Version: 1.7

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 6/10/2026

Updated: 6/22/2026

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.9

Percentile: 58.01

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Temporal Score: 5.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-11837

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.3

Temporal Score: 6.7

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:ansible, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.10, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:rhc-worker-playbook, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:ansible-core, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:centos:centos:8, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:ansible, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rhc-worker-playbook, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0

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: 6/10/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-11837