Description
A memory leak flaw was found in cockpit-ws. The login page handler leaks a heap allocation on every unauthenticated request that carries a CockpitLang cookie, allowing a remote unauthenticated attacker to exhaust memory on the host and cause a denial of service.
Published: 2026-08-19
Score: 7.5 High
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

Impact

The vulnerability is a memory leak in the cockpit‑ws component. Every unauthenticated HTTP request that includes a CockpitLang cookie causes the login page handler to allocate additional heap memory that is never released. Over time this repeated leakage can exhaust the host’s RAM, causing the cockpit service to fail or the entire system to become unresponsive. The flaw is classified as CWE‑401, Improper Release of Memory Resources.

Affected Systems

Affected products are Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9, 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces 3. All versions of these platforms that ship the vulnerable cockpit‑ws component are impacted.

Risk and Exploitability

The CVSS score of 7.5 indicates high impact for a denial of service with no authentication required. EPSS score of 0.00355 indicates a very low chance of exploitation, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. An attacker only needs to send repeated HTTP requests containing a CockpitLang cookie to the cockpit web service; the exact listening port is not specified in the advisory, but the service is typically exposed through the web interface.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on August 20, 2026 at 17:57 UTC.

Remediation

Vendor Workaround

Restrict network access to the cockpit port to trusted clients until a fix is available. No configuration-level mitigation removes the flaw entirely, since the login page must remain reachable without authentication.

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

  • Restrict network access to the cockpit web service port to trusted clients until a fix is available.
  • Monitor host memory usage and schedule regular restarts or restart the cockpit service when memory thresholds approach.
  • Apply any vendor‑supplied update for cockpit‑ws as soon as a patch is released.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on August 20, 2026 at 17:57 UTC.

Tracking

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Advisories
Source ID Title
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6474-1 cockpit security update
History

Tue, 25 Aug 2026 03:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 21:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat openshift Dev Spaces
Vendors & Products Redhat openshift Dev Spaces

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

 threat_severity

Moderate

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A memory leak flaw was found in cockpit-ws. The login page handler leaks a heap allocation on every unauthenticated request that carries a CockpitLang cookie, allowing a remote unauthenticated attacker to exhaust memory on the host and cause a denial of service.
Title Cockpit-ws: cockpit: cockpit-ws: unauthenticated remote memory leak via cockpitlang cookie in send_login_html
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat openshift Devspaces
Weaknesses CWE-401
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_devspaces:3
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat openshift Devspaces
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Subscriptions

Redhat Enterprise Linux Openshift Dev Spaces Openshift Devspaces
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: redhat

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-25T01:50:25.746Z

Reserved: 2026-08-19T11:37:44.676Z

Link: CVE-2026-76235

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-08-25T01:50:21.956Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2026-08-19T13:18:11.637

Modified: 2026-08-25T03:16:58.367

Link: CVE-2026-76235

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2026-08-19T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2026-76235 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-21T21:16:36Z

Weaknesses
  • CWE-401

    Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime