Detections
Analytics

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS / 26.10 : PCRE2 vulnerabilities (USN-8974-1)

high Nessus Plugin ID 375781

Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The remote Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS / 26.10 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-8974-1 advisory.

 It was discovered that PCRE2 did not correctly manage memory when processing certain patterns. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.10. (CVE-2026-86145)

 Albert Zhang discovered that PCRE2 did not correctly process certain input. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.10. (CVE-2026-89156)

 It was discovered that PCRE2 did not correctly handle large patterns. On 32-bit platforms, an attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.10. (CVE-2026-89157)

 It was discovered that PCRE2 did not correctly handle certain patterns. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-89158)

 Ilia Alshanetsky discovered that PCRE2 did not correctly handle certain input. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.10. (CVE-2026-89160)

 It was discovered that PCRE2 did not correctly manage memory when handling certain patterns. An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.10. (CVE-2026-89161)

 It was discovered that PCRE2 could expose uninitialized data in certain circumstances. A local attacker could possibly use this issue to obtain sensitive information. This issue only affected Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and Ubuntu 26.10. (CVE-2026-89162)

 Michael Allen discovered that PCRE2 did not correctly manage memory when using just-in-time compilation.
 An attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.10.
 (CVE-2026-103111)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu 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

Update the affected packages.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8974-1

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 375781

File Name: ubuntu_USN-8974-1.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Published: 11/4/2026

Updated: 11/4/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, 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: 5.5

Percentile: 95.85

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.1

Temporal Score: 5.6

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-89157

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 7

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:P/RL:O/RC:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-89161

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.10, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libpcre2-16-0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libpcre2-32-0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libpcre2-8-0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libpcre2-posix0, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libpcre2-posix2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libpcre2-posix3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:pcre2-utils

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Debian/dpkg-l, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 11/3/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 9/5/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-103111, CVE-2026-86145, CVE-2026-89156, CVE-2026-89157, CVE-2026-89158, CVE-2026-89160, CVE-2026-89161, CVE-2026-89162

USN: 8974-1