# CVE-2026-85649: Auth bypass in software-actualizer

> An installer script fails to validate password hash generation, potentially creating system images with empty root passwords and allowing unauthorized access.

- **Severity:** High 7.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 4 Sep 2026

## What is CVE-2026-85649?

CVE-2026-85649 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in chewkeanho software-actualizer, published on 4 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

(Holloway) Chew, Kean Ho's Actualizer v1.2.0 and earlier contains a fail-open password validation vulnerability in the Alpha user and root user password loops of Shell/debian-minbase-install.sh. The installer invokes mkpasswd to generate yescrypt password hashes but does not check the command's return value and unconditionally accepts the result. If mkpasswd fails to generate a yescrypt hash, for example because an incompatible mkpasswd implementation or an environment without yescrypt support is used, the resulting password hash variable can be empty and the build proceeds. The resulting image can therefore contain empty password fields for the root and alpha accounts, potentially permitting passwordless authentication depending on the authentication configuration.

Weakness: CWE-636 (Not Failing Securely), CWE-252 (Unchecked Return Value)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-85649?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-85649?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-85649 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-85649 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-85649 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- [MIRROR] The CVE-2026-85649 Security Research Publication. (github_poc): https://github.com/ChewKeanHo/research-cve-2026-85649

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-85649 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-85649 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in chewkeanho software-actualizer, published on 4 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-85649 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: chewkeanho software-actualizer. 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-2026-85649/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-85649/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-85649
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-85649
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-85649

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-85649/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.