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CVE-2026-16460

Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.

Description

A flaw was found in bootc and ostree. Already-staged deployments are finalized without revalidating the deployment's container image against the current containers signature policy. Unsigned OS content staged under a prior permissive policy can remain bootable after policy is hardened to reject unsigned images, leading to full host compromise on reboot.

Severity
HIGH
CVSS score
7.4 (v3.1)
Vulnerability status
Awaiting Analysis
Source identifier
Published
2026-10-19 07:16:31.253000
Last modified
2026-10-21 19:17:02.333000
View original CVE JSON
{
  "id": "CVE-2026-16460",
  "sourceIdentifier": "[email protected]",
  "published": "2026-10-19T07:16:31.253",
  "lastModified": "2026-10-21T19:17:02.333",
  "vulnStatus": "Awaiting Analysis",
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "A flaw was found in bootc and ostree. Already-staged deployments are finalized without revalidating the deployment's container image against the current containers signature policy. Unsigned OS content staged under a prior permissive policy can remain bootable after policy is hardened to reject unsigned images, leading to full host compromise on reboot."
    }
  ],
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "bootc",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "ostree",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "rpm-ostree",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "ostree",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "bootc",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "ostree",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "rpm-ostree",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Hardened Images",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "bootc",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:hummingbird:1"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat Hardened Images",
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "ostree",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:hummingbird:1"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4"
          ]
        },
        {
          "vendor": "Red Hat",
          "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4",
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/",
          "packageName": "ostree",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:/a:redhat:openshift:4"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "source": "[email protected]",
        "type": "Secondary",
        "cvssData": {
          "version": "3.1",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
          "baseScore": 7.4,
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "attackVector": "LOCAL",
          "attackComplexity": "HIGH",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
          "integrityImpact": "HIGH",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 1.4,
        "impactScore": 5.9
      }
    ],
    "ssvcV203": [
      {
        "source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
        "ssvcData": {
          "timestamp": "2026-10-19T17:30:04.698872Z",
          "id": "CVE-2026-16460",
          "options": [
            {
              "exploitation": "none"
            },
            {
              "automatable": "no"
            },
            {
              "technicalImpact": "total"
            }
          ],
          "role": "CISA Coordinator",
          "version": "2.0.3"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "source": "[email protected]",
      "type": "Secondary",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-345"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-16460",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2503167",
      "source": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}