Local privilege escalation via NAR parser memory corruption
Published May 5, 2026 · Updated May 5, 2026
Memory corruption in Nix and Lix daemon NAR parsers allows local users with daemon access to execute code as the daemon account. Nix permits unbounded directory recursion to overflow an unguarded coroutine stack into heap memory, while Lix wraps a crafted 64-bit archive-member length to zero before writing attacker data beyond the resized buffer. Reliable exploitation requires permission to connect to the daemon and an ASLR bypass; successful exploitation reaches root in typical multi-user installations.
Summary
What happened
Memory corruption in Nix and Lix daemon NAR parsers allows local users with daemon access to execute code as the daemon account. Nix permits unbounded directory recursion to overflow an unguarded coroutine stack into heap memory, while Lix wraps a crafted 64-bit archive-member length to zero before writing attacker data beyond the resized buffer. Reliable exploitation requires permission to connect to the daemon and an ASLR bypass; successful exploitation reaches root in typical multi-user installations.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-44028
- Published
- May 5, 2026
- Updated
- May 5, 2026
- Vendor
- Lix Project
- Product
- Lix
- Classifications
- CWE-674, CWE-787, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 5, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=2.93.0 <2.93.4
- Affected versionversion=2.94.0 <2.94.2
- Affected versionversion=2.95.0 <2.95.2
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Lix NAR crash reproducerproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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