What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-45255: Remote code execution via installer Wi-Fi access point scans
- Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
- Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
- EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
- Public exploit or detection template: none known
- Published: 2026-05-21 · updated 2026-07-23
- Weakness: CWE-78
Description
When bsdinstall or bsdconfig are prompted to scan for nearby Wi-Fi networks, they build up a list of network names and use bsddialog(1) to prompt the user to select a network. This is implemented using a shell script, and the code which handled network names was not careful to prevent expansion by the shell. As a result, a suitably crafted network name can be used to execute commands via a subshell. The problem can be exploited to execute code as root on the system running bsdinstall or bsdconfig. The attacker would need to create an access point with a specially crafted name and be within range of a Wi-Fi scan. Note that bsdinstall and bsdconfig are vulnerable as soon as the user prompts them to scan for nearby networks; they do not need to actually select the malicious network.
Affected products
- FreeBSD: 14.3, 14.3-p1, 14.3-p10, 14.3-p11, 14.3-p12, 14.3-p13 (+23)
References
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