Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2026-42014: GnuTLS use-after-free in gnutls_pkcs11_token_set_pin

CVE-2026-42014 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.6 · Published 2026-06-16

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

Executive brief

A vulnerability was found in GnuTLS, a widely used library that provides secure communications for applications. The flaw exists in the component responsible for managing security hardware tokens, such as smart cards. An attacker with local access to a system could exploit this to cause a program to crash or potentially gain unauthorized access to sensitive information by manipulating how the library handles PIN changes.

Technical details

A use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-825) exists in the `gnutls_pkcs11_token_set_pin` function within GnuTLS. The flaw is triggered when an attacker attempts to change the Security Officer PIN using a NULL value for the 'old PIN' on a token that does not have a protected authentication path. This leads to the dereference of an expired pointer. The attack vector is local, requiring low privileges and no user interaction. Successful exploitation can lead to a denial of service (application crash) or potentially limited data modification and disclosure. Patches have been released by Red Hat for Enterprise Linux versions 8, 9, and 10.

Affected products

  • GnuTLS GnuTLS 3.6.16-8.el8_10.6, 3.8.10-4.el9_8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 8.10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 9.8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 10.2

Timeline

  • 2026-05-26: patched: Red Hat released security updates RHSA-2026:20611, RHSA-2026:20612, and RHSA-2026:20613.
  • 2026-06-16: disclosed: CVE-2026-42014 was published to the NVD.

References

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