Red Hat Enterprise Linux/Hardened Images Time-based Access Restriction access control

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as very critical has been found in Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Hardened Images. The affected element is an unknown function of the component Time-based Access Restriction. Executing a manipulation can lead to access control. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-96512. The attack can only be executed locally. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Hardened Images (the affected version unknown) and classified as very critical. This vulnerability affects an unknown part of the component Time-based Access Restriction. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a access control vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-284. The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

A flaw was found in sudo. When sudoers rules use NOTBEFORE or NOTAFTER time-based access restrictions with timestamps that omit the trailing 'Z' timezone indicator, the time evaluation relies on the TZ environment variable inherited from the calling user. Because sudo is a setuid-root program, an unprivileged local user can set TZ to an extreme timezone offset to shift the authorization window by up to approximately 25 hours, causing expired rules to be treated as valid. This allows the user to execute commands outside the intended time window. Authentication is not bypassed; only the time-based authorization check is affected.

The advisory is shared for download at access.redhat.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-96512 since 09/23/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $5k-$25k (estimation calculated on 09/23/2026). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1068.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Red Hat

Name

• Enterprise Linux
• Hardened Images

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.redhat.com/

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