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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-8798

🗓️ 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00Reported by TenableType 
nessus
 nessus
🔗 www.tenable.com👁 5 Views

Bouncy Castle FIPS before 2.1.3 hangs threads on Intel entropy failure, causing denial of service.

Related
Refs
Code
ReporterTitlePublishedViews
Family
attackerkb
ATTACKERKB
CVE-2026-8798
8 Aug 202600:50
attackerkb
cgr
Chainguard
CVE-2026-8798 vulnerabilities
5 Aug 202620:22
cgr
cve
CVE
CVE-2026-8798
8 Aug 202600:50
cve
cvelist
Cvelist
CVE-2026-8798 Native entropy source retries the CPU entropy instructions without limit
8 Aug 202600:50
cvelist
euvd
EUVD
EUVD-2026-54725
8 Aug 202600:50
euvd
nvd
NVD
CVE-2026-8798
8 Aug 202601:16
nvd
osv
OSV
CGA-7W5W-37J4-V5VH
5 Aug 202611:35
osv
osv
OSV
UBUNTU-CVE-2026-8798
8 Aug 202601:16
osv
snyk
Snyk
Infinite loop
8 Aug 202603:45
snyk
snyk
Snyk
Infinite loop
8 Aug 202603:45
snyk
Rows per page
#%NASL_MIN_LEVEL 80900
##
# (C) Tenable, Inc.
##

include('compat.inc');

if (description)
{
  script_id(334792);
  script_version("1.1");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_modification_date", value:"2026/08/12");

  script_cve_id("CVE-2026-8798");

  script_name(english:"Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-8798");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"synopsis", value:
"The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be
patched.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"description", value:
"The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied
patch available.

  - In Bouncy Castle for Java FIPS (BC-FJA) before bc-fips 2.1.3, the native entropy source used on Intel
    platforms retried the CPU entropy instructions without any bound. RDSEED and RDRAND report failure through
    their carry flag, and the JNI seeding routine spun re-issuing the instruction for as long as that flag
    stayed clear, so a persistent failure of the on-chip entropy source - whether from a hardware fault, from
    the underlying DRBG being exhausted by contention across many cores, or from a hypervisor that does not
    provide the instruction - left the calling thread looping indefinitely inside the JNI call, where it could
    be neither interrupted nor timed out. Any operation drawing from the native entropy source could therefore
    hang, denying service to the application. The retry loops are now bounded (200 attempts for RDSEED and 20
    for RDRAND, twice the baselines given in Intel's Digital Random Number Generator software implementation
    guide), pausing between attempts and, on exhaustion, clearing any partially written buffer and throwing
    rather than continuing to spin. The clear is performed by an un-elidable memzero, which uses a volatile
    pointer and an assembly memory barrier so that a compiler cannot optimise the erase away as a dead store.
    Bouncy Castle for Java (bcprov) is not affected, as it has no native entropy source; the 1.0.X and 2.0.X
    FIPS series are not affected. (CVE-2026-8798)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"see_also", value:"https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-8798");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"solution", value:
"There is no known solution at this time.");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"agent", value:"unix");
  script_set_cvss_base_vector("CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:P");
  script_set_cvss_temporal_vector("CVSS2#E:U/RL:U/RC:C");
  script_set_cvss3_base_vector("CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H");
  script_set_cvss3_temporal_vector("CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss4_vector", value:"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss4_threat_vector", value:"CVSS:4.0/E:U");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cvss_score_source", value:"CVE-2026-8798");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploitability_ease", value:"No known exploits are available");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"exploit_available", value:"false");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vendor_unpatched", value:"true");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"vuln_publication_date", value:"2026/08/08");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_publication_date", value:"2026/08/12");

  script_set_attribute(attribute:"plugin_type", value:"local");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04:-:lts");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"cpe", value:"p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:bouncycastle");
  script_set_attribute(attribute:"generated_plugin", value:"current");
  script_end_attributes();

  script_category(ACT_GATHER_INFO);
  script_family(english:"Misc.");

  script_copyright(english:"This script is Copyright (C) 2026 and is owned by Tenable, Inc. or an Affiliate thereof.");

  script_dependencies("ssh_get_info2.nasl", "set_linux_os_id.nasl");
  script_require_keys("Host/cpu", "Host/local_checks_enabled", "global_settings/vendor_unpatched", "Host/OS/identifier");
  script_require_ports("Host/OS/Ubuntu Linux-16.04", "Host/OS/Ubuntu Linux-18.04", "Host/OS/Ubuntu Linux-20.04", "Host/OS/Ubuntu Linux-22.04", "Host/OS/Ubuntu Linux-24.04", "Host/OS/Ubuntu Linux-26.04");

  exit(0);
}

if (!get_kb_item("global_settings/vendor_unpatched")) exit(0, "Unpatched Vulnerabilities Detection not active.");
if (!get_kb_item("Host/local_checks_enabled")) audit(AUDIT_LOCAL_CHECKS_NOT_ENABLED);
if (empty_or_null(get_one_kb_item("Host/Debian/dpkg-l"))) audit(AUDIT_PACKAGE_LIST_MISSING);

include('linux_unpatched.inc');

var distro_constraints_array = {
  "Ubuntu Linux-16.04": {
    "package_manager": "dpkg-l",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "release": "16.04",
        "pkgs": [
          {"reference": "bouncycastle"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "Ubuntu Linux-18.04": {
    "package_manager": "dpkg-l",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "release": "18.04",
        "pkgs": [
          {"reference": "bouncycastle"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "Ubuntu Linux-20.04": {
    "package_manager": "dpkg-l",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "release": "20.04",
        "pkgs": [
          {"reference": "bouncycastle"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "Ubuntu Linux-22.04": {
    "package_manager": "dpkg-l",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "release": "22.04",
        "pkgs": [
          {"reference": "bouncycastle"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "Ubuntu Linux-24.04": {
    "package_manager": "dpkg-l",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "release": "24.04",
        "pkgs": [
          {"reference": "bouncycastle"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "Ubuntu Linux-26.04": {
    "package_manager": "dpkg-l",
    "constraints": [
      {
        "release": "26.04",
        "pkgs": [
          {"reference": "bouncycastle"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
};

var distro_constraints_values = linux_unpatched::get_distro_constraints(distro_constraints_arr:distro_constraints_array);
if (empty_or_null(distro_constraints_values)) audit(AUDIT_HOST_NOT, 'affected');

var third_party_support = get_kb_item('Host/OS/extended-third-party');
if (!empty_or_null(third_party_support)) {
    var third_party_vendors = distro_constraints_values['third_party'];
    if (!empty_or_null(third_party_vendors)) {
        var vendor;
        foreach vendor (third_party_vendors) {
            if (vendor == third_party_support) exit(0, 'A third party management patch is available for this vulnerability from ' + vendor + '.\n');
        }
    }
}

var report = linux_unpatched::check_unpatched_constraints(distro_constraints_values:distro_constraints_values);

if (!empty_or_null(report))
{
  security_report_v4(
      port       : 0,
      severity   : SECURITY_WARNING,
      extra      : report
  );
  exit(0);
}
else
{
  audit(AUDIT_HOST_NOT, 'affected');
}

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12 Aug 2026 00:00Current
5.6Medium risk
Vulners AI Score5.6
CVSS 48.7
EPSS0.00329
SSVC
5