Executive brief
GNOME Shell is the desktop environment interface used by many Linux distributions. A flaw in how it processes icons from remote search providers allows a malicious provider to crash the user's session or leak sensitive data from system memory by sending oversized icon dimensions.
Technical details
The vulnerability is an out-of-bounds read (CWE-125) in GNOME Shell's remote search icon processing. When handling icons from a D-Bus-connected remote search provider, the system fails to validate the declared icon dimensions against the actual data buffer size. An attacker controlling a remote search provider can exploit this by providing oversized dimensions, triggering an out-of-bounds read. This causes the GNOME Shell process to crash (denial of service) and may disclose sensitive information from adjacent memory. The attack requires user interaction (triggering a search) and runs with local privileges on the affected system.
Affected products
- GNOME Shell <UNKNOWN>
Timeline
- 2026-09-15: disclosed