# CVE-2026-16742: systemd-homed: local privilege escalation via missing home-record signature verification on the authenticate path

> Local attackers can escalate privileges by adding arbitrary system groups to homed-managed users due to missing signature verification.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 10 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-95643, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-16742, ECHO-9f82-dc11-1360, OESA-2026-3742, OESA-2026-3743, OESA-2026-3744, OESA-2026-3897, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-16742, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-16742

## What is CVE-2026-16742?

CVE-2026-16742 is a medium-severity vulnerability in systemd-homed, published on 10 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

systemd-homed contains a local privilege escalation bug via arbitrary system group addition to a local, logged in, homed-managed user

Weakness: CWE-347 (Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature), CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-16742?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-16742?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-16742 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16742 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-16742 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-16742 is a medium-severity vulnerability in systemd-homed, published on 10 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16742 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: systemd-homed. 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-2026-16742/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16742/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-16742
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16742
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-16742

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16742/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.