# CVE-2026-90995: Sssd: sssd: local denial of service due to null pointer dereference in pam responder

> A local attacker can crash the SSSD PAM responder by sending a crafted request when pam_app_services is enabled, disrupting authentication.

- **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
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90995, GHSA-q5vg-f923-829p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90995

## What is CVE-2026-90995?

CVE-2026-90995 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 14 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in SSSD (System Security Services Daemon). A local attacker with privileges to connect to the PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) responder socket can send a specially crafted protocol request. If the `pam_app_services` configuration is enabled and the service item is omitted from the request, a NULL pointer dereference can occur. This vulnerability leads to a denial of service, causing the PAM responder to crash and disrupt authentication services.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-90995?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Fedoraproject Sssd, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Redhat Openshift Container Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-90995?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-90995 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90995 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Enterprise Linux

- [CVE-2022-4254](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4254/): Other in SSSD (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2012-3462](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-3462/): Auth bypass in sssd (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-104048](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-104048/): Sssd: sssd: authorization bypass via cross-domain username collision in hbac evaluation (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2015-5292](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5292/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2026-12610](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12610/): Sssd: use-after-free crash in sssd' 'sssd_pam' process (medium 6.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-90995 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-90995 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux, published on 14 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-2026-90995 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Enterprise Linux. 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-2026-90995/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90995/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-90995
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90995
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-90995

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90995/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.