Is CVE-2026-42011 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-42011 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-42011?

High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.4, published 7 May 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 8.10.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-42011?

A patch was published on 2026-05-02: Initial Red Hat Hardened Images update released Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-42011 attacked?

It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-42011?

Check whether you run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-42011: GnuTLS name constraint bypass in certificate validation

CVE-2026-42011 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.4 · Published 2026-05-07

A security flaw was identified in GnuTLS, a widely used software library that handles secure internet connections (SSL/TLS). The vulnerability allows an attacker to bypass security checks that verify if a digital certificate is authorized to represent a specific domain. This could allow a malicious actor to impersonate legitimate websites or intercept encrypted communications, potentially leading to the theft of sensitive data.

Technologies: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Vendors: Red Hat.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-42011 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-42011 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-42011?: High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.4, published 7 May 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 8.10.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-42011?: A patch was published on 2026-05-02: Initial Red Hat Hardened Images update released Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-42011 attacked?: It is attacked over the network, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-42011?: Check whether you run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

A vulnerability exists in GnuTLS due to improper certificate validation (CWE-295) specifically related to X.509 name constraint handling. The flaw occurs when permitted name constraints are incorrectly ignored if previous Certificate Authorities (CAs) in the chain only specified excluded name constraints. A remote attacker can exploit this logic error to present a certificate that should be rejected, effectively bypassing critical name constraint checks. This can lead to the acceptance of invalid certificates, enabling spoofing or man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks. The issue has been addressed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 8, 9, and 10 via security updates such as RHSA-2026:20611.

Affected products

GnuTLS gnutls 3.6.x, 3.8.x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 8.10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

Timeline

2026-05-02: patched: Initial Red Hat Hardened Images update released
2026-05-06: disclosed: Bug reported to Red Hat Bugzilla
2026-05-07: advisory: NVD published the CVE record
2026-05-26: patched: General availability of patches for RHEL 8, 9, and 10

References

This page as Markdown. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back.