Unrated

libinput libinput-device-group udev property injection leading to root code execution

IdentifiersCVE-2026-50265CWE-74

CVE-2026-50265 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in libinput's udev helper, libinput-device-group. The helper incorporates a device's phys sysattr into a udev property value and prints it as a KEY=VALUE pair that udev imports into its environment. Because newline characters in the phys sysattr were not escaped or sanitized, a malicious uinput or uhid device could supply a phys value containing '\n', causing udev to parse the helper output as multiple KEY=VALUE pairs instead of a single property. This enables injection of unintended udev properties. The advisory notes that dangerous properties such as REMOVE_CMD can be injected, resulting in arbitrary command execution as root. The issue affects libinput versions up to 1.31.2 and 1.30.3 and was fixed in 1.31.3 and 1.30.4. The CVE record indicates this ID was later rejected as a duplicate of CVE-2026-50292, but both refer to the same underlying vulnerability.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can result in arbitrary code execution as root via injected udev properties processed by udev. This is effectively a local privilege escalation from an attacker-controlled local context capable of presenting a malicious uinput or uhid device to full root-level execution. Depending on the injected property and system behavior, exploitation may also permit persistence hooks or execution during device removal events.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Restrict untrusted local access to interfaces that allow creation of attacker-controlled input devices, particularly /dev/uinput and relevant uhid paths. Prevent unprivileged users or containers from creating arbitrary virtual input devices unless explicitly required. As a defense-in-depth measure, monitor or harden udev rule handling for dangerous imported properties such as REMOVE_CMD. If immediate patching is not possible, reducing access to virtual device creation is the most relevant temporary mitigation based on the available information.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade libinput to a fixed release: 1.31.3 or later on the 1.31 branch, or 1.30.4 or later on the 1.30 branch. The upstream fix is associated with commit 76f0d8a7f57e2868882864b4611281f12f704b55, which addresses the unsafe handling of phys sysattr content in libinput-device-group output.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

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VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

FreedesktopLibinputapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

6 sources tracked across advisories and community write-ups. News coverage will land here when it surfaces.

6 SOURCESView more in app

No news coverage yet. Advisories and community discussion only.

What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

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Associated malware

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Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity6