---
id: CVE-2026-96512
title: A flaw was found in sudo
summary: >-
  A flaw was found in sudo. When sudoers rules use NOTBEFORE or NOTAFTER
  time-based access restrictions with timestamps that omit the trailing 'Z'
  timezone indicator, the time evaluation relies on the TZ environment variable
  inherited from…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-863
vendor: Red Hat
product: sudo
affected:
  - sudo (all versions)
  - sudo (all versions)
  - sudo (all versions)
  - sudo (all versions)
  - sudo (all versions)
published: '2026-09-23'
updated: '2026-09-24'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-24T17:17:17.893'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96512'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:71609'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96512'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2539327'
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/sudo-project/sudo/commit/1820a349687522f51023d1ae5925125f59679a8c
    label: secalert@redhat.com
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-96512.json
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96512'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-96512'
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-09-23T16:18:10.918476Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-23T14:25:29.803Z'
---

## Overview

A flaw was found in sudo. When sudoers rules use NOTBEFORE or NOTAFTER time-based access restrictions with timestamps that omit the trailing 'Z' timezone indicator, the time evaluation relies on the TZ environment variable inherited from the calling user. Because sudo is a setuid-root program, an unprivileged local user can set TZ to an extreme timezone offset to shift the authorization window by up to approximately 25 hours, causing expired rules to be treated as valid. This allows the user to execute commands outside the intended time window. Authentication is not bypassed; only the time-based authorization check is affected.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat Hardened Images · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, … · updated 2026-09-23 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-96512.json)