CVE-2026-6843 Nano: nano: format string vulnerability leads to denial of service
A local attacker can cause a denial of service in the Nano text editor by creating a directory with a name containing printf specifiers.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-6843?
CVE-2026-6843 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 22 Apr 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
A flaw was found in nano. A local user could exploit a format string vulnerability in the `statusline()` function. By creating a directory with a name containing `printf` specifiers, the application attempts to display this name, leading to a segmentation fault (SEGV). This results in a Denial of Service (DoS) for the `nano` application.
Weakness: CWE-134
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-6843?
It affects 3 products.
Products include Gnu Nano, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Redhat Openshift Container Platform.
How do I fix CVE-2026-6843?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-6843 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-6843 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Enterprise Linux
Sources
Also known as AZL-85560, CLSA-2026-1780920842, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-6843, GHSA-9jvr-742w-rwph, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-6843.