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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2026-96442 json

Emacs: emacs: arbitrary code execution in flymake mode

published 2026-09-23 47 d ago modified 2026-11-05 4 d ago also EUVD-2026-85187

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 10%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A code execution flaw was found in Emacs, affecting versions prior to 31.2. The Flymake mode using language backends other than Lisp would execute arbitrary code from the edited file while performing syntax checking. Viewing or editing untrusted files using Emacs could lead to arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running Emacs.

Patch / fix

  • GNU Emacs GNU Emacs 31.2
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10.4
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 1:27.2-18.el9_8.3
  • emacs RHEL 9 1:27.2-18.el9_8.3
  • emacs-nox RHEL 9 1:27.2-18.el9_8.3
  • emacs-lucid RHEL 9 1:27.2-18.el9_8.3
  • emacs-common RHEL 9 1:27.2-18.el9_8.3
  • emacs-filesystem RHEL 9 1:27.2-18.el9_8.3
  • emacs RHEL 10.2 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3
  • emacs-nw RHEL 10.2 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3
  • emacs-lucid RHEL 10.2 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3

red hat advisories RHSA-2026:85245RHSA-2026:84591

  • emacs SLES for SAP 15 SP6, SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4 +9 more 27.2-150400.3.34.1
  • emacs SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 30.2-160000.4.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:4594-1SUSE-SU-2026:23949-1

  • emacs openSUSE Leap 16.0 30.2-160000.4.1
  • emacs openSUSE Tumbleweed 31.1-4.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21974-1openSUSE-SU-2026:11889-1

  • emacs AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10.4
  • emacs-nox AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10.4
  • emacs-lucid AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10.4
  • emacs-common AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10.4
  • emacs-terminal AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10.4
  • emacs-filesystem AlmaLinux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10.4
  • emacs AlmaLinux 10 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3
  • emacs-nw AlmaLinux 10 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3

almalinux advisories ALSA-2026:90800ALSA-2026:84591ALSA-2026:85245

  • emacs Rocky Linux 8 1:26.1-15.el8_10.4
  • emacs Rocky Linux 10 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3
  • emacs Rocky Linux 9 1:27.2-18.el9_8.3

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2026:90800RLSA-2026:84591RLSA-2026:85245

  • emacs Azure Linux 3.0 29.4-7

azure linux advisories AZL-103532

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-96442 updated cvss 7.8

emacs: Emacs: arbitrary code execution in Flymake mode

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 emacs, emacs-el, emacs-nox, emacs-common, emacs-terminal, emacs-filesystem
    affected: workaround, no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) emacs 26.1-15.el8_10.4, emacs-nox 26.1-15.el8_10.4, emacs-lucid 26.1-15.el8_10.4, emacs-common 26.1-15.el8_10.4, emacs-terminal 26.1-15.el8_10.4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:90800
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) emacs 27.2-18.el9_8.3, emacs-nox 27.2-18.el9_8.3, emacs-lucid 27.2-18.el9_8.3, emacs-common 27.2-18.el9_8.3, emacs-filesystem 27.2-18.el9_8.3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:85245
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) emacs 29.4-14.el10_2.3, emacs-nw 29.4-14.el10_2.3, emacs-lucid 29.4-14.el10_2.3, emacs-common 29.4-14.el10_2.3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:84591
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) emacs 26.1-15.el8_10.4, emacs-filesystem 26.1-15.el8_10.4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:90800
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) emacs 29.4-14.el10_2.3, emacs-filesystem 29.4-14.el10_2.3
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:84591

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
47 d ago

Exploit prediction

0.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 10% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • GNU Emacs GNU Emacs
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.