Detections
Analytics

Amazon Linux 2 : emacs (ALAS-2026-3944)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 351014

Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux 2 host is missing a security update.

Description

The version of emacs installed on the remote host is prior to 27.2-4. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ALAS2-2026-3944 advisory.

 GNU Emacs before 31.0.91 contains an integer overflow in the PBM/PPM/PGM image loader that allows an attacker to leak heap memory contents by supplying a crafted image with large dimensions and an elevated max color index. The image loader multiplies image dimensions and channel count using signed integer arithmetic; for sufficiently large values, the result wraps to a negative number, bypassing the bounds check and causing the pixel reader to access heap memory past the end of the allocated buffer. The over- read contents are interpreted as pixel color values and rendered on screen. (CVE-2026-77219)

 A flaw was found in Emacs TRAMP. A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability by processing maliciously crafted filenames. This occurs because TRAMP concatenates login arguments without proper sanitization, which are then passed to a local shell. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution. (CVE-2026-79992)

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

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

Solution

Run 'yum update emacs' or or 'yum update --advisory ALAS2-2026-3944' to update your system.

See Also

https://alas.aws.amazon.com//AL2/ALAS2-2026-3944.html

https://alas.aws.amazon.com/faqs.html

https://explore.alas.aws.amazon.com/CVE-2026-77219.html

https://explore.alas.aws.amazon.com/CVE-2026-79992.html

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 351014

File Name: al2_ALAS-2026-3944.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Published: 9/29/2026

Updated: 9/29/2026

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.9

Percentile: 96.52

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Temporal Score: 5

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-79992

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 6.8

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

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

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.9

Threat Score: 4.5

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-77219

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:amazon:linux:2, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:emacs-common, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:emacs-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:emacs-devel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:emacs-filesystem, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:emacs-lucid, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:emacs-nox, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:emacs-terminal, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:emacs

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

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 9/28/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/21/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-77219, CVE-2026-79992