CVE-2026-5055VulnerabilityPublished 30 Mar 2026

ZDI-26-249: NoMachine Uncontrolled Search Path Element Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Source Zero Day Initiative

Not known to be exploited · fixed in 9.4.14 : patch affected systems soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

Severity

High

Rated High by Zero Day Initiative · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 11% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 9.4.14

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
Public on cve.org; its publication date is not in this record
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

local

What to do

AI-suggested

Apply the official fix by upgrading NoMachine to version 9.4.14 or later, where this vulnerability has been addressed. NoMachine's advisory confirms the availability of this patch. No additional mitigation steps are required once the update is applied.

Description

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of NoMachine. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The ZDI has assigned a CVSS rating of 7.8. The following CVEs are assigned: CVE-2026-5055.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability allows a local attacker with limited code execution capabilities to escalate privileges to SYSTEM level, potentially leading to full control over the affected system. This can compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system and its data.

Summary

CVE-2026-5055 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in NoMachine Device Server caused by an uncontrolled search path element. This flaw allows an attacker who already has low-privileged code execution on the system to escalate privileges by exploiting the product's loading of a library from an unsecured location. Successful exploitation results in arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges. The vulnerability was reported to NoMachine on December 24, 2025, and publicly disclosed on March 30, 2026. NoMachine released a fix in version 9.4.14.

References

zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-26-249/ (opens in a new tab)

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