CVE-2026-85649

Fail‑Open Password Validation in Actualizer Installer Leading to Passwordless Authentication

Published Sep 4, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.9 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
(Holloway) Chew, Kean Ho's Actualizer v1.2.0 and earlier contains a fail-open password validation vulnerability in the Alpha user and root user password loops of Shell/debian-minbase-install.sh. The installer invokes mkpasswd to generate yescrypt password hashes but does not check the command's return value and unconditionally accepts the result. If mkpasswd fails to generate a yescrypt hash, for example because an incompatible mkpasswd implementation or an environment without yescrypt support is used, the resulting password hash variable can be empty and the build proceeds. The resulting image can therefore contain empty password fields for the root and alpha accounts, potentially permitting passwordless authentication depending on the authentication configuration.

Remediation

Vendor Solution

Upgrade to Actualizer v1.2.1 or later. The fixed version validates that the generated password hash has the expected yescrypt prefix and performs a pre-flight check for yescrypt support before building.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Chewkeanho
Chewkeanho software-actualizer
Vendors & Products Chewkeanho
Chewkeanho software-actualizer
Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Fail‑Open Password Validation in Actualizer Installer Leading to Passwordless Authentication
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description (Holloway) Chew, Kean Ho's Actualizer v1.2.0 and earlier contains a fail-open password validation vulnerability in the Alpha user and root user password loops of Shell/debian-minbase-install.sh. The installer invokes mkpasswd to generate yescrypt password hashes but does not check the command's return value and unconditionally accepts the result. If mkpasswd fails to generate a yescrypt hash, for example because an incompatible mkpasswd implementation or an environment without yescrypt support is used, the resulting password hash variable can be empty and the build proceeds. The resulting image can therefore contain empty password fields for the root and alpha accounts, potentially permitting passwordless authentication depending on the authentication configuration.
Weaknesses CWE-252
CWE-636
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
CIRCL
Published
Updated
Sep 4, 2026, 5:59 PM
Reserved
Sep 4, 2026, 12:58 PM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Sep 4, 2026, 1:20 PM
Modified
Sep 8, 2026, 2:11 PM