Executive brief
A security vulnerability has been identified in the X.Org X server and Xwayland, which are fundamental components used to manage graphical displays and user input on Linux systems. A local user or malicious application could exploit this flaw to crash the system or potentially gain administrative (root) privileges. This could lead to a complete takeover of the affected machine or a disruption of services.
Technical details
An out-of-bounds (OOB) heap write vulnerability exists in the DRIGetBuffers and DRIGetBuffersWithFormat functions within the DRI2 module of the X.Org X server and Xwayland. The flaw is triggered when a client requests multiple DRI2BufferBackLeft attachments alongside a DRI2BufferFrontLeft attachment, leading to an incorrect buffer allocation size that does not account for duplicate attachments. A local attacker with the ability to connect to the X server can exploit this to corrupt heap memory, potentially achieving arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the X server (often root). The issue has been addressed in xorg-server version 21.1.23 and xwayland version 24.1.12 by implementing attachment deduplication using a bit-set.
Affected products
- X.Org xorg-x11-server <= 21.1.22
- X.Org xorg-x11-server-Xwayland <= 24.1.9
Timeline
- 2026-05-15: other: Fix authored upstream
- 2026-06-01: other: Fix committed upstream
- 2026-06-02: advisory: X.Org security advisory released
- 2026-06-05: disclosed: CVE published and Red Hat advisory issued
References
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-50264
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2485389
- https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/-/commit/339c279514326134b0878fc23ce6e9520440ce7f
- https://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-announce/2026-June/003702.html
- https://redhat.atlassian.net/browse/PSIRTSUPT-16950