openvt -u is intended to identify the owner of the current VT and then execute login as that user from a privileged context. In the documented kbrequest/init usage, the ownership test in authenticate_user() relies on stat("/proc//fd/0"). stat() on /proc//fd/0 follows the symlink to the underlying TTY device node. As a result, buf.st_uid reflects the owner of the TTY node rather than the owner of the process holding the file descriptor. If the TTY owner returns to root or the getty owner after logout while an unprivileged process still has fd 0 attached to that TTY, the check can incorrectly treat that process as belonging to the privileged console owner. Once that check succeeds, the -u path executes a passwordless login as the selected user. In the documented kbrequest/init deployment using openvt -us, this can result in passwordless login -f root on the spawned VT. This report establishes that privilege escalation path for that documented deployment; it does not claim equivalent reachability for deployments that do not use openvt -u from a privileged kbrequest/init path.
CVE-2026-72693
“—” beside the score: it is equal to the CVSS score beside it.
Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-08-11. A secondary CVSS source baseline 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.
Also known asEUVD-2026-55978 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.8
- EG Score
- 7.8HIGHmedium confidence
- EG Risk
- 35EG Risk 35/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity78% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 7.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation0.1% × 40%FIRST EPSS: the 30-day exploitation probability when EchelonGraph scored this CVE.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines. - EPSS PROB
- 0.1%
- EPSS %ILE
- 1st
- KEV
- Not listed
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (7.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 7.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 0.1% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-28). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
August 11, 2026
Last Modified
October 9, 2026
Advisory Details (2)
Auto-updated Aug 11, 20262462115 – (CVE-2026-72693) CVE-2026-72693 kbd: Local privilege escalation in openvt via incorrect process owner verification allowing passwordless root login
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2462115CVE-2026-72693 - Red Hat Customer Portal
Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or OpenShift Container Platform 4, is affected by this vulnerability and a fix may be released to a
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-72693Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-72693(7)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- RHSA-2026:66357Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.22.14 bug fix and security update
- RHSA-2026:60440Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.22.12 bug fix and security update
- CVE-2026-72693Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC)High
Kbd: local privilege escalation in openvt via incorrect process owner verification allowing passwordless root login
- RHSA-2026:57610Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: kbd security update
- RHSA-2026:57597Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: kbd security update
- GHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6GitHub Security AdvisoriesHigh
`openvt -u` is intended to identify the owner of the current VT and then execute `login` as that...
- RHSA-2026:41136Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
Patch Availability(6)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fix (by version range) / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| redhat | kbd-0:2.0.4-11.el8_10.1 | 2026-10-08 | redhat |
| redhat | openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9:4.22.9.8.202609081748-0 | 2026-09-15 | redhat |
| redhat | openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9:4.22.9.8.202608251819-0 | 2026-09-01 | redhat |
| redhat | kbd-0:2.6.4-8.el10_2 | 2026-08-20 | redhat |
| redhat | kbd-0:2.4.0-12.el9_8 | 2026-08-20 | redhat |
| redhat | kbd-main-2.10.0-2.hum1 | 2026-07-16 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(3 across 3 ecosystems)
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| kbd | 2.10.0-1 ... 2.9.0-1 (10 versions) |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| kbd | 2.10.0-1, 2.7.1-2, 2.7.1-2+exp1, 2.9.0-1 |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| kbd | 2.10.0-1, 2.7.1-2, 2.7.1-2+exp1, 2.9.0-1 |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(1)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 70× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 365 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 265 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-11-01 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-31 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-30 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-28 22:11 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-28 22:11 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-28 22:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-28 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-27 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-26 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-25 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-25 14:06 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-24 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-23 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-21 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-20 23:16 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-20 23:16 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-20 23:16 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-20 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-19 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-18 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-18 03:15 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-16 16:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-15 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-14 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
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- 2026-10-13 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-13 08:07 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-13 08:07 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-13 08:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-12 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-12 15:41 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 19:27 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 16:42 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 14:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 13:49 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-10 20:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-09 20:07 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-09 04:26 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-09 04:26 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-09 04:26 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-09 03:53 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-09 03:53 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-09 03:53 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 23:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-08 23:22 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-08 23:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 22:59 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-08 22:59 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-08 22:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-08 17:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-07 23:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-07 05:32 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-07 05:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-06 18:06 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-06 18:06 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-06 18:06 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-06 15:18 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-05 18:20 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-05 18:20 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-05 18:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-05 17:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-04 23:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-04 22:48 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-04 22:48 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-04 09:17 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-04 09:17 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-03 21:38 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-03 21:38 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-03 21:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-03 14:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-02 22:30 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-02 22:30 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-02 22:30 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-02 09:14 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-02 09:14 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-02 09:14 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-01 19:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-10-01 10:02 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-01 10:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-09-30 22:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-30 22:22 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-30 22:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-09-29 05:19 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-29 05:19 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-29 05:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-09-28 13:52 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-09-28 13:36 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-28 13:36 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-09-28 02:21 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-28 02:21 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-28 02:21 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-09-27 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.1% · 1st percentile
- 2026-09-27 11:03 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-27 11:03 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-27 11:03 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-09-26 15:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.2% · 4th percentile
- 2026-09-25 03:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-25 03:58 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-09-25 03:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-6766-cx7r-c5q6 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-09-24 08:23 UTCVendor advisory
Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)
Same vendor
10 shownredhat:RHSA-2026:60440 · redhat:RHSA-2026:66357
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2026-72693?
When was CVE-2026-72693 made public?
Is CVE-2026-72693 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-72693?
How do I remediate CVE-2026-72693?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2026-72693
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