CVE-2025-26599
Memory Safety in Redhat Enterprise Linux 7.0 … 9.0
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-26599 is a high-severity Access of Uninitialized Pointer (CWE-824) vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 33th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2025-26599 is an access to an uninitialized pointer flaw (CWE-824) affecting X.Org and Xwayland. The vulnerability arises when the function compCheckRedirect() fails to allocate the backing pixmap, causing compRedirectWindow() to return a BadAlloc error without fully validating the previously marked window tree. This leaves the validated data partly uninitialized, resulting in the subsequent use of an uninitialized pointer. The issue was published on 2025-02-25 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation grants high-impact access to confidential data, modification of system integrity, and disruption of availability, potentially leading to full system compromise on affected X.Org or Xwayland installations.
Red Hat has released multiple errata addressing the flaw, including RHSA-2025:2500, RHSA-2025:2502, RHSA-2025:2861, RHSA-2025:2862, and RHSA-2025:2865, which provide updated packages with fixes for vulnerable systems.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-5424
Vulnerability Data
An access to an uninitialized pointer flaw was found in X.Org and Xwayland. The function compCheckRedirect() may fail if it cannot allocate the backing pixmap. In that case, compRedirectWindow() will return a BadAlloc error without validating the window tree marked…
more
just before, which leaves the validated data partly initialized and the use of an uninitialized pointer later.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover uninitialized pointer accesses through static analysis, dynamic testing, or fuzzing before deployment.
Requiring documented development processes and tools enables use of analyzers or coding standards that identify uninitialized pointer defects.
Security engineering principles can mandate memory-safety practices and language choices that structurally avoid uninitialized pointer use.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly prevent uninitialized pointer bugs via coding standards, analysis, and reviews, but eliminating this single weakness only partially fulfills the broader control.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing can detect uninitialized pointer usage before release.
Secure development life cycle mandates practices that reduce uninitialized pointer defects.
Application security requirements can specify pointer initialization rules.
Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe pointer handling.
Secure coding standards directly prohibit use of uninitialized pointers.