Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-4747

Memory Safety in Freebsd 13.5 … 15.0

Public PoCMemory Safety
Published
26 March 2026
Modified
20 April 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.019 78th percentile
Risk Priority 67 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-4747 is a high-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Freebsd Freebsd. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 22% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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-2026-4747 is a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-121) in the RPCSEC_GSS packet validation routine, which copies data from a packet into a stack buffer without ensuring adequate size. This affects the kgssapi.ko kernel module's RPCSEC_GSS implementation in FreeBSD systems, as well as userspace applications that load librpcgss_sec and run RPC servers. The issue allows a malicious client to trigger the overflow without prior authentication. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

An authenticated user with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this against a vulnerable FreeBSD NFS server while kgssapi.ko is loaded, sending crafted RPCSEC_GSS packets over the network to achieve remote code execution in the kernel. In userspace, any unauthenticated client able to reach an RPC server using librpcgss_sec can trigger remote code execution, though no such applications are known in the FreeBSD base system.

The FreeBSD security advisory (FreeBSD-SA-26:08.rpcsec_gss.asc) provides details on patches and mitigation. Additional technical publications and a proof-of-concept exploit are available in the referenced GitHub repositories.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Each RPCSEC_GSS data packet is validated by a routine which checks a signature in the packet. This routine copies a portion of the packet into a stack buffer, but fails to ensure that the buffer is sufficiently large, and a…

more

malicious client can trigger a stack overflow. Notably, this does not require the client to authenticate itself first. As kgssapi.ko's RPCSEC_GSS implementation is vulnerable, remote code execution in the kernel is possible by an authenticated user that is able to send packets to the kernel's NFS server while kgssapi.ko is loaded into the kernel. In userspace, applications which have librpcgss_sec loaded and run an RPC server are vulnerable to remote code execution from any client able to send it packets. We are not aware of any such applications in the FreeBSD base system.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-39457Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2026-39461Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2026-45250Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2026-42512Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2026-5398Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2026-49417Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2023-3494Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2026-45252Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2026-49412Same product: Freebsd Freebsd
CVE-2024-45287Same product: Freebsd Freebsd

Affected Assets

freebsd
freebsd
13.5, 14.3, 14.4, 15.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and analysis can discover stack-buffer overflows before deployment.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from exceeding stack buffer bounds.

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability to execute injected code after a stack overflow.

Secure-engineering principles include bounds-checked coding and safe buffer handling that avoid introducing the flaw.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.

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.

finds

Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248594 OL 8 must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution. prevents CWE-121
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271452 OL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-121

References