Auth bypass in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
CVE-2026-96512
A flaw was found in sudo. When sudoers rules use NOTBEFORE or NOTAFTER time-based access restrictions with timestamps that omit the trailing 'Z' timezone indicator, the time evaluation relies on the TZ environment variable inherited from the calling user. Because sudo is a setuid-root program, an unprivileged local user can set TZ to an extreme timezone offset to shift the authorization window by up to approximately 25 hours, causing expired rules to be treated as valid. This allows the user to execute commands outside the intended time window. Authentication is not bypassed; only the time-based authorization check is affected.
Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
No EPSS score from FIRST.org yet. New CVEs usually get one within a few days; no score means no signal yet, not low risk. How EPSS works.
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-96512?
- CVE-2026-96512 is a high-severity vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, classified under Incorrect Authorization. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-09-23.
- How severe is CVE-2026-96512?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.