CVE-2026-72693

Kbd: local privilege escalation in openvt via incorrect process owner verification allowing passwordless root login

CVE-2026-72693 is fixed in 5 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72693, released August 11, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: High.

High
CVSS
7.8
Important
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0015
3rd percentile

`openvt -u` is intended to identify the owner of the current VT and then execute `login` as that user from a privileged context. In the documented `kbrequest`/init usage, the ownership test in `authenticate_user()` relies on `stat("/proc/<pid>/fd/0")`. `stat()` on `/proc/<pid>/fd/0` follows the symlink to the underlying TTY device node. As a result, `buf.st_uid` reflects the owner of the TTY node rather than the owner of the process holding the file descriptor. If the TTY owner returns to `root` or the getty owner after logout while an unprivileged process still has `fd 0` attached to that TTY, the check can incorrectly treat that process as belonging to the privileged console owner. Once that check succeeds, the `-u` path executes a passwordless login as the selected user. In the documented `kbrequest`/init deployment using `openvt -us`, this can result in passwordless `login -f root` on the spawned VT. This report establishes that privilege escalation path for that documented deployment; it does not claim equivalent reachability for deployments that do not use `openvt -u` from a privileged `kbrequest`/init path.

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
kbd · Debian 14 2.10.0-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72693 Aug 11, 2026
kbd · Fedora 43 2.8.0-4.fc43 FEDORA-2026-3A1183DF4C Aug 27, 2026
kbd · RHEL 10 2.6.4-8.el10_2 RHSA-2026:57597 Aug 21, 2026
kbd · RHEL 8 0:2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 RHSA-2026:78951 Oct 9, 2026
kbd · RHEL 9 0:2.4.0-12.el9_8 RHSA-2026:57610 Aug 21, 2026
kbd · almalinux 10 2.6.4-8.el10_2 ALSA-2026:57597 Aug 20, 2026
kbd · almalinux 8 2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 ALSA-2026:78951 Oct 8, 2026
kbd · almalinux 9 2.4.0-12.el9_8 ALSA-2026:57610 Aug 20, 2026
kbd · amzn 2023 2.4.0-2.amzn2023.0.4 ALAS2023-2026-2109 Aug 31, 2026
kbd · ol 10 0:2.6.4-8.el10_2 ELSA-2026-57597 Aug 20, 2026
kbd · ol 8 0:2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 ELSA-2026-78951 Oct 8, 2026
kbd · ol 9 0:2.4.0-12.el9_8 ELSA-2026-57610 Aug 20, 2026
kbd · opensuse-leap 16.0 2.7.1-160000.3.1 OPENSUSE-SU-2026:21939-1 Sep 23, 2026
kbd · rocky 10 0:2.6.4-8.el10_2 RLSA-2026:57597 Aug 21, 2026
kbd · rocky 8 0:2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 RLSA-2026:78951 Nov 7, 2026
kbd · rocky 9 0:2.4.0-12.el9_8 RLSA-2026:57610 Aug 21, 2026
kbd · sles 15.6 2.4.0-150400.5.12.1 SUSE-SU-2026:4207-1 Sep 16, 2026
kbd · sles 15.7 2.4.0-150700.15.10.1 SUSE-SU-2026:4211-1 Sep 16, 2026
kbd · sles 16.0 2.7.1-160000.3.1 SUSE-SU-2026:23911-1 Sep 23, 2026
kbd-debuginfo · Fedora 43 2.8.0-4.fc43 FEDORA-2026-3A1183DF4C Aug 27, 2026
kbd-debuginfo · amzn 2023 2.4.0-2.amzn2023.0.4 ALAS2023-2026-2109 Aug 31, 2026
kbd-debugsource · Fedora 43 2.8.0-4.fc43 FEDORA-2026-3A1183DF4C Aug 27, 2026
kbd-debugsource · amzn 2023 2.4.0-2.amzn2023.0.4 ALAS2023-2026-2109 Aug 31, 2026
kbd-legacy · Fedora 43 2.8.0-4.fc43 FEDORA-2026-3A1183DF4C Aug 27, 2026
kbd-legacy · RHEL 8 0:2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 RHSA-2026:78951 Oct 9, 2026
kbd-legacy · RHEL 9 0:2.4.0-12.el9_8 RHSA-2026:57610 Aug 21, 2026
kbd-legacy · almalinux 10 2.6.4-8.el10_2 ALSA-2026:57597 Aug 20, 2026
kbd-legacy · almalinux 8 2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 ALSA-2026:78951 Oct 8, 2026
kbd-legacy · almalinux 9 2.4.0-12.el9_8 ALSA-2026:57610 Aug 20, 2026
kbd-legacy · amzn 2023 2.4.0-2.amzn2023.0.4 ALAS2023-2026-2109 Aug 31, 2026
kbd-legacy · ol 10 0:2.6.4-8.el10_2 ELSA-2026-57597 Aug 20, 2026
kbd-legacy · ol 8 0:2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 ELSA-2026-78951 Oct 8, 2026
kbd-legacy · ol 9 0:2.4.0-12.el9_8 ELSA-2026-57610 Aug 20, 2026
kbd-misc · Fedora 43 2.8.0-4.fc43 FEDORA-2026-3A1183DF4C Aug 27, 2026
kbd-misc · RHEL 8 0:2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 RHSA-2026:78951 Oct 9, 2026
kbd-misc · RHEL 9 0:2.4.0-12.el9_8 RHSA-2026:57610 Aug 21, 2026
kbd-misc · almalinux 10 2.6.4-8.el10_2 ALSA-2026:57597 Aug 20, 2026
kbd-misc · almalinux 8 2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 ALSA-2026:78951 Oct 8, 2026
kbd-misc · almalinux 9 2.4.0-12.el9_8 ALSA-2026:57610 Aug 20, 2026
kbd-misc · amzn 2023 2.4.0-2.amzn2023.0.4 ALAS2023-2026-2109 Aug 31, 2026
kbd-misc · ol 10 0:2.6.4-8.el10_2 ELSA-2026-57597 Aug 20, 2026
kbd-misc · ol 8 0:2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 ELSA-2026-78951 Oct 8, 2026
kbd-misc · ol 9 0:2.4.0-12.el9_8 ELSA-2026-57610 Aug 20, 2026

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