Amazon Linux 2023 : dracut, dracut-caps, dracut-config-generic (ALAS2023-2026-2085)

high Nessus Plugin ID 341875

Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux 2023 host is missing a security update.

Description

It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-2085 advisory.

A flaw was found in dracut. The die() error-handling function writes its message into a shell script under the initramfs emergency-hook directory without properly shell-quoting it. When the message contains data derived from the DHCP ROOT_PATH option, an attacker on the adjacent network who controls a rogue DHCP server can inject a command-substitution sequence that executes as root the next time dracut sources its emergency hook scripts during standard boot-failure handling. (CVE-2026-15816)

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

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

Solution

Run 'dnf update dracut --releasever 2023.12.20260831' or or 'dnf update --advisory ALAS2023-2026-2085 --releasever 2023.12.20260831' to update your system.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 341875

File Name: al2023_ALAS2023-2026-2085.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Amazon Linux Local Security Checks

Published: 8/31/2026

Updated: 8/31/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Nessus Agent, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.9

Percentile: 58.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Temporal Score: 5

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-15816

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.5

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:amazon:linux:2023, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:dracut-caps, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:dracut-config-generic, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:dracut-config-rescue, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:dracut-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:dracut-debugsource, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:dracut-squash, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:dracut-tools, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:dracut

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AmazonLinux/release, Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/31/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/7/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-15816

Detections

Analytics