NVD / CVE Program· CNA freebsd

CVE-2026-45255: Remote code execution via installer Wi-Fi access point scans

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 30/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.30% (FIRST EPSS).
Someone on the same network segment can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
Fixed version: FreeBSD FreeBSD p14, p5, p9.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to FreeBSD FreeBSD p14, p5, p9 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

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.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Published: May 21, 2026
Updated: Jul 23, 2026
EPSS: 0.3% · 23th percentile
CWE: CWE-78

Report tools

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Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.3%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
freebsd	freebsd	cpe:2.3:o:freebsd:freebsd

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

freebsd freebsd14.3
freebsd freebsd14.4
freebsd freebsd15.0

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (freebsd). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

FreeBSD FreeBSD
- 15.0-RELEASE and later · before p9affected · release
- 14.4-RELEASE and later · before p5affected · release
- 14.3-RELEASE and later · before p14affected · release

Same product

freebsd: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2020-7457In FreeBSD 12.1-STABLE before r359565, 12.1-RELEASE before p7, 11.4-STABLE before r362975, 11.4-RELEASE before p1, and 11.3-RELEASE before p
60This week
CVE-2006-0900nfsd in FreeBSD 6.0 kernel allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted NFS mount request, as demonstrated by the Prot
51Plan
CVE-2018-17157In FreeBSD before 11.2-STABLE(r340854) and 11.2-RELEASE-p5, an integer overflow error when handling opcodes can cause memory corruption by s
46Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2026-45253May 21, 2026 · Missing validation in ptrace(PT_SC_REMOTE)
33Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2026-45254May 21, 2026 · Incorrect libcap_net limitation list manipulation
26Monitor
Later →CVE-2026-45256Jun 26, 2026 · Missing permission check in thr_kill2(2)
22Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
FreeBSD FreeBSD	p14	Vendor (CNA)
FreeBSD FreeBSD	p5	Vendor (CNA)
FreeBSD FreeBSD	p9	Vendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Austin Rallsfinder

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Someone on the same network segment can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
No user action is required.
Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Adjacent
Attack complexity: High
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-78 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-secondary

Root cause

User input is inserted as text into a shell command. The shell may interpret special characters in the input as part of the command.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-78 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const host = req.body.host;
2exec("ping -c 1 " + host, onResult);

Fixed

1const host = req.body.host;
2if (!/^[a-z0-9.-]{1,253}$/i.test(host)) return res.sendStatus(400);
3execFile("ping", ["-c", "1", host], onResult);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC

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References

security.freebsd.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-26:23.bsdinstall.asc

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records