RHSA-2026:98459
Vulnerability from csaf_redhat - Published: 2026-11-11 11:47 - Updated: 2026-11-11 11:49A flaw was found in cockpit-machines. This vulnerability allows a local attacker with the ability to inspect process metadata to disclose a sensitive Red Hat Subscription Management (RHSM) offline token. The token is exposed when it is passed as a command-line argument to a helper script during the token validation process. Successful exploitation could lead to the compromise of confidentiality, as the exposed token can be used to request access tokens.
A flaw was found in `cockpit-machines`. This vulnerability allows a local attacker with the ability to inspect running processes to expose sensitive guest virtual machine (VM) credentials, such as `rootPassword` and `userPassword`. This occurs when the `install_machine.py` script passes these credentials as a JSON command-line argument during VM creation or installation. The exposure is limited to the period when the installation workflow is active and depends on host process-visibility policies.
A flaw was found in cockpit-machines. This vulnerability allows a local attacker to expose sensitive Virtual Machine (VM) credentials, including plaintext passwords, by inspecting process command-line arguments during VM creation or installation. The cockpit-machines component passes password values directly on the command line, making them visible to other local users on systems where process arguments are not restricted. Successful exploitation leads to information disclosure, potentially compromising VM access.
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"text": "Cockpit component for managing libvirt virtual machines.\n\nSecurity Fix(es):\n\n* cockpit-machines: cockpit-machines: Sensitive data exposure via command-line arguments (CVE-2026-92768)\n\n* cockpit-machines: cockpit-machines: Sensitive Data Exposure of guest credentials via JSON argument in process list (CVE-2026-92747)\n\n* cockpit-machines: cockpit-machines: Information Disclosure of RHSM Offline Token via Process Arguments (CVE-2026-92745)\n\nFor more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.",
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"title": "Vulnerability description"
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"text": "cockpit-machines: cockpit-machines: Information Disclosure of RHSM Offline Token via Process Arguments",
"title": "Vulnerability summary"
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"text": "This local information disclosure vulnerability in `cockpit-machines` exposes the RHSM offline token via process arguments during token validation. Exploitation requires local access to the host, the ability to inspect process metadata while the validation flow is active, and a system without restrictive `/proc` visibility settings.",
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"details": "For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to:\n\nhttps://access.redhat.com/articles/11258",
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"details": "A workaround is available for this issue. Until a fixed package is installed, avoid validating RHSM offline tokens through the Cockpit Machines \"Download an OS\" / RHEL image download flow on multi-user hosts where untrusted local users can inspect process metadata. As a system-level mitigation, restrict /proc visibility so unprivileged users cannot read other users\u0027 process command lines, for example by remounting /proc with the hidepid=2 mount option; this blocks cross-user observation of the helper process arguments that contain the offline token while the validation flow is running. Fixed packages are being released for the affected streams, and updating to a fixed cockpit-machines package once available for your stream resolves the issue.",
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"confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
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"title": "cockpit-machines: cockpit-machines: Information Disclosure of RHSM Offline Token via Process Arguments"
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"text": "A flaw was found in `cockpit-machines`. This vulnerability allows a local attacker with the ability to inspect running processes to expose sensitive guest virtual machine (VM) credentials, such as `rootPassword` and `userPassword`. This occurs when the `install_machine.py` script passes these credentials as a JSON command-line argument during VM creation or installation. The exposure is limited to the period when the installation workflow is active and depends on host process-visibility policies.",
"title": "Vulnerability description"
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"text": "cockpit-machines: cockpit-machines: Sensitive Data Exposure of guest credentials via JSON argument in process list",
"title": "Vulnerability summary"
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{
"category": "other",
"text": "This flaw in `cockpit-machines` can lead to sensitive data exposure of guest VM credentials. When creating or installing a VM with password fields populated, `install_machine.py` passes these credentials as a JSON command-line argument. This makes them visible to other local users on the host who can inspect running processes, but only while the installation workflow is active and if host process-visibility policies permit.",
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"title": "CVSS score applicability"
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"title": "cockpit-machines: cockpit-machines: Sensitive Data Exposure of guest credentials via JSON argument in process list"
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"text": "A flaw was found in cockpit-machines. This vulnerability allows a local attacker to expose sensitive Virtual Machine (VM) credentials, including plaintext passwords, by inspecting process command-line arguments during VM creation or installation. The cockpit-machines component passes password values directly on the command line, making them visible to other local users on systems where process arguments are not restricted. Successful exploitation leads to information disclosure, potentially compromising VM access.",
"title": "Vulnerability description"
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{
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"text": "This Moderate impact flaw in `cockpit-machines` allows local attackers to expose sensitive VM credentials. During VM creation or installation, passwords passed via command-line arguments can be read by other local users if `/proc` visibility is not restricted. Exploitation requires local access and a specific execution window, but successful attacks can lead to full credential disclosure.",
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"text": "The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product\u0027s status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.",
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"details": "Restrict visibility of process command-line arguments to other local users by mounting /proc with the hidepid=2 option, for example by remounting /proc with \u0027mount -o remount,hidepid=2 /proc\u0027 or configuring \u0027proc /proc proc defaults,hidepid=2 0 0\u0027 in /etc/fstab. This prevents unprivileged local users from reading other users\u0027 process arguments. Additionally, on shared hosts where other local users can inspect process arguments, avoid supplying root or user passwords through the Cockpit Machines VM create and install flows, and prefer provisioning methods that do not pass passwords on the command line. Updated cockpit-machines packages that stop passing password material on the command line are being delivered for affected streams; installing the updated package once it is available for your stream resolves this issue.",
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"confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
"integrityImpact": "NONE",
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"scope": "UNCHANGED",
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Drag nodes to arrange them. Double-click a related vulnerability to open it, or a source to visit its link. The Physics button on the left tunes the layout and the simulation; the legend at the bottom left hides or shows nodes by kind and by sighting type.
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Vulnerability timeline
Sightings and recorded dates, grouped by day · UTC
How durations are calculated
Following the VTEM framework (Black Hat USA 2015), time to patch starts when the vendor or a coordinator was informed, total time to patch at discovery, and disclosure to patch at public disclosure; vendor response time runs from the report to its acknowledgement. Time to exploit and time unpatched start at the earliest discovery or report, falling back to public disclosure. Unpatched time ends at the first recorded patch, or the calculation time when no patch is recorded. Exploitation to patch shows the interval between those two events; a published proof of concept is a public exploit, not exploitation.
Each result shows its source dates. A negative interval means the end event came first; when date-only inputs leave the order open, the result says so. Date-only inputs are approximate. The earliest evidence wins: KEV report dates and sightings are labelled as such. Records describing another vulnerability are listed but never calculated from, and a PoC alone does not establish exploitation. Missing patch evidence does not prove that no patch exists. Filters below change the event list only.
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The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
Related by attack behaviour
Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.