CVE-2026-85062Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Service interruption via quadratic color-string matching

Published Sep 3, 2026 · Updated Sep 9, 2026

Inefficient regular-expression matching in colord before 2.9.4 allows remote attackers to block an application's processing thread. The CSS color matchers split the same digit run between overlapping quantifiers in quadratically many ways before rejecting malformed input. Exploitation requires an application to pass an attacker-controlled, unbounded, multi-kilobyte color string to a synchronous parsing API, causing a temporary service interruption.

CVSS severity6.9
Medium
EPSS probability0.29%
Next 30 days · Sep 17, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Inefficient regular-expression matching in colord before 2.9.4 allows remote attackers to block an application's processing thread. The CSS color matchers split the same digit run between overlapping quantifiers in quadratically many ways before rejecting malformed input. Exploitation requires an application to pass an attacker-controlled, unbounded, multi-kilobyte color string to a synchronous parsing API, causing a temporary service interruption.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-85062
Published
Sep 3, 2026
Updated
Sep 9, 2026
Vendor
omgovich
Product
colord
Classifications
CWE-1333, T1499
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 3, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 9, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 2.9.4

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

omgovich · colordversion=< 2.9.4

Published CVSS scores

6.9GitHubCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

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.

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No observations available

Sep 11, 2026Sep 17, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 17, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-1333Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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