High severity · published Oct 7, 2026
CVE-2026-107161
Cyrus-sasl: heap buffer overflow in cyrus-sasl add_to_challenge() allows malicious server to crash or compromise digest-md5 clients
7.5
CVSS
0.3%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A heap-based buffer overflow flaw was found in Cyrus SASL. The add_to_challenge() function in the DIGEST-MD5 plugin computes the size of the buffer needed for a challenge/response field before DIGEST-MD5 quoting is applied, but does not recompute that size when quoting (escaping special characters) makes the value longer. The under-sized buffer is then passed to strcat(), causing a heap-based out-of-bounds write whose size depends on attacker-controlled input. A malicious or on-path DIGEST-MD5 (or HTTP Digest) server can trigger this flaw in a connecting client by supplying a crafted challenge field, such as realm or nonce, most likely resulting in a crash of the client application.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.3% · higher than 27% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Hardened Images · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-107161
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-107161
vdb-entry
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-107161
issue-tracking
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2460420
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