Read the docs
TI-2026-54528 Aliases CVE-2026-78422GHSA-j48v-cvqq-xcv6

zbus_polkit: polkit authorization bypass via PID reuse due to incorrect D-Bus type for the subject UID

Priority LOW 33CWE-367Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
Present
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

Subject::new_for_owner() in the zbus_polkit crate encodes the uid entry of a unix-process polkit subject as an unsigned 32-bit integer (D-Bus type u), whereas the org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1.Authority interface specifies a signed 32-bit integer (D-Bus type i). Because of this type mismatch, polkit silently discards the caller-supplied UID and instead determines the subject's owner itself by looking up the PID in /proc, a lookup that is inherently subject to a time-of-check/time-of-use race. Consequently, an application that passes a UID obtained from a trustworthy source — for example SO_PEERCRED Unix socket peer credentials — in order to defend against PID reuse receives no protection, and the supplied UID has no effect on the authorization decision. A local unprivileged attacker who can cause an authorized process to terminate and then win the race to have their own process assigned the same PID can be authorized under the identity of the terminated process, bypassing the polkit authorization check and performing actions the attacker is not entitled to. This issue affects zbus_polkit before 5.1.0.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00125 2nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed zbus_polkit (z-galaxy): 5.1.0

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
z-galaxyzbus_polkitbefore 5.1.05.1.0Patch availableCNA
  • zbus_polkit Vendorz-galaxy Affected before 5.1.0 Fixed in 5.1.0 Patch available CNA

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA zbus_polkit (z-galaxy) Fixed in 5.1.0

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 1 product
  • Red Hat

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-78422
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-j48v-cvqq-xcv6

References

Sources