CVE-2026-85231 Libtirpc: libtirpc: denial of service via unbounded memory allocation during rpcsec_gss decoding
An authenticated attacker can cause denial of service in RPC services using RPCSEC_GSS by triggering unbounded memory allocation via oversized requests.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-85231?
CVE-2026-85231 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, published on 16 Oct 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A flaw was found in libtirpc. An authenticated remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending oversized wrapped data requests to an RPC (Remote Procedure Call) service configured with RPCSEC_GSS (Remote Procedure Call Security-Generic Security Service) integrity or privacy. This can lead to unbounded memory allocation, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) by exhausting system resources and causing the service to become unstable or terminate.
Weakness: CWE-770
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-85231?
How do I fix CVE-2026-85231?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-85231 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-85231 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-85231, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-85231, ECHO-a4aa-20f1-90de, GHSA-xhf3-w45r-cmh3, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-85231.