# CVE-2026-116497: Gssproxy: gssproxy: null pointer dereference in gssx_init_sec_context crashes daemon


- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 26 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 26 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-116497, GHSA-9crw-qhvr-v43j, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-116497

## What is CVE-2026-116497?

CVE-2026-116497 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 26 Oct 2026. 

### Official description

A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability was found in gssproxy. When a GSSX_INIT_SEC_CONTEXT request is received with the target_name field absent, the daemon dereferences the resulting NULL pointer and crashes. The request requires no authentication, allowing any local user to crash the gssproxy daemon via its Unix socket. The daemon does not automatically restart, resulting in a persistent denial of service that also affects dependent services such as Kerberized NFS and IdM.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-116497?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-116497?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-116497 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-116497 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-116497 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-116497 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-116497 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 26 Oct 2026. 
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-116497 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-116497/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-116497/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-116497
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116497
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-116497

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-116497/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.