CVE-2026-40224 [Medium] | Privilege Escalation in Systemd

CVE-2026-40224 is rated Low Risk (26.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.08%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.01%	0.08%	+0.07%
2	2026-04-11	—	0.01%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.01%

0.08%

+0.07%

2026-04-11

—

0.01%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
6.7	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	0.8	5.9	[email protected]
7.3	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.3	5.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

6.7

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

0.8

5.9

[email protected]

7.3

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.3

5.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-40224

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2026-40224 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (systemd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-40224
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-40224
`suse`	medium	CVE-2026-40224 severity moderate: SUSE including 25 source package names (libsystemd0, libsystemd0-32bit, …), 269 product×package rows across 26 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS, … (26 product lines)): Known Not Affected 269.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-40224/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2026-40224 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (systemd), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 7, released 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-40224

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-40224

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
systemd_project	systemd	>= 259, < 259.3	cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd::::::::

References for CVE-2026-40224

URL	Tags
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/security/advisories/GHSA-6pwp-j5vg-5j6m	Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2026-40224

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-40224

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-40224

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-40224

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-40224

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-40224

References for CVE-2026-40224