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CentOS Linux 6 [TuxCare] Security Update: gawk Multiple Vulnerabilities (CENTOS6:CLSA-2026:1792508988)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 370873

Synopsis

The CentOS Linux host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The CentOS Linux 6 host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the TuxCare CENTOS6:CLSA-2026:1792508988 advisory.

 - A heap out-of-bounds read flaw was found in builtin.c in the gawk package. This issue may lead to a crash and could be used to read sensitive information. (CVE-2023-4156)

 - Integer overflow vulnerability has been found in builtin.c program file of gawk. This issue may lead to memory exhaustion on the hosting operating system and could be used to overwrite gawk heap metadata and objects with attacker-controlled bytes. It affects gawk in versions 5.4.0 and below. (CVE-2026-40468)

 - Integer overflow vulnerability has been found in builtin.c program file of gawk (do_sub() routine). This issue could be used to overwrite gawk heap metadata and objects causing the program to crash. It affects 32-bit builds of gawk in versions 5.4.0 and below. (CVE-2026-40469)

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

Solution

Update the affected gawk package based on the guidance in TuxCare advisory CENTOS6:CLSA-2026:1792508988.

See Also

https://cve.tuxcare.com/els/releases/CLSA-2026:1792508988

http://www.nessus.org/u?bdd6fa69

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 370873

File Name: tuxcare_centos_6_CLSA-2026-1792508988.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Published: 10/22/2026

Updated: 10/22/2026

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.3

Percentile: 53.04

Vendor

Vendor Severity: Critical

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 9.4

Temporal Score: 7.4

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-40469

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.1

Temporal Score: 8.2

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

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

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.1

Threat Score: 2

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:P

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

Vulnerability Information

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/CentOS/release, Host/CentOS/rpm-list, Host/OS/extended-third-party

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 10/20/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/17/2023

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-4156, CVE-2026-40468, CVE-2026-40469

CLSA: 2026:1792508988