CVE-2026-5745: NULL Pointer Dereference in Red Hat Red Hat Hardened Images
A flaw was found in libarchive. A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the ACL parsing logic, specifically within the archive_acl_from_text_nl() function. When processing a malformed ACL string (such as a bare "d" or "default" tag without subsequent fields), the function fails to perform adequate validation before advancing the pointer. An attacker can exploit this by providing a maliciously crafted archive, causing an application utilizing the libarchive API (such as bsdtar) to crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
This vulnerability is a NULL pointer dereference in libarchive's ACL parsing function archive_acl_from_text_nl(). Specifically, malformed ACL strings such as a bare "d" or "default" tag without required fields cause the function to advance a pointer without adequate validation, leading to a crash. This affects applications using libarchive APIs, including bsdtar, potentially causing denial of service. Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs have been updated to libarchive version 3.8.7-1.hum1 to fix this issue. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.5 (medium severity) with local attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, user interaction needed, and impact limited to availability.
Potential Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability can cause applications using libarchive to crash, resulting in denial of service. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity. The attack requires local access and user interaction. No known exploits are reported in the wild at this time.
Mitigation Recommendations
Red Hat has released updated RPM packages for Red Hat Hardened Images including libarchive-3.8.7-1.hum1 that address this vulnerability. Users should apply these official updates as detailed in the Red Hat advisory (https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-5745) to remediate the issue. Patch status is confirmed by the vendor advisory. No additional mitigation steps are indicated.
CVE-2026-5745: NULL Pointer Dereference in Red Hat Red Hat Hardened Images
Description
A flaw was found in libarchive. A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the ACL parsing logic, specifically within the archive_acl_from_text_nl() function. When processing a malformed ACL string (such as a bare "d" or "default" tag without subsequent fields), the function fails to perform adequate validation before advancing the pointer. An attacker can exploit this by providing a maliciously crafted archive, causing an application utilizing the libarchive API (such as bsdtar) to crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability is a NULL pointer dereference in libarchive's ACL parsing function archive_acl_from_text_nl(). Specifically, malformed ACL strings such as a bare "d" or "default" tag without required fields cause the function to advance a pointer without adequate validation, leading to a crash. This affects applications using libarchive APIs, including bsdtar, potentially causing denial of service. Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs have been updated to libarchive version 3.8.7-1.hum1 to fix this issue. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.5 (medium severity) with local attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, user interaction needed, and impact limited to availability.
Potential Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability can cause applications using libarchive to crash, resulting in denial of service. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity. The attack requires local access and user interaction. No known exploits are reported in the wild at this time.
Mitigation Recommendations
Red Hat has released updated RPM packages for Red Hat Hardened Images including libarchive-3.8.7-1.hum1 that address this vulnerability. Users should apply these official updates as detailed in the Red Hat advisory (https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-5745) to remediate the issue. Patch status is confirmed by the vendor advisory. No additional mitigation steps are indicated.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- redhat
- Date Reserved
- 2026-04-07T14:32:58.869Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- null
- Vendor Advisory Urls
- [{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-5745","vendor":"Red Hat"}]
Threat ID: 69d52346aaed68159a2ecada
Added to database: 4/7/2026, 3:31:18 PM
Last enriched: 5/4/2026, 1:55:30 AM
Last updated: 5/22/2026, 4:57:22 AM
Views: 59
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