Reference page — cumulative record through Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2026-96442

CVE-2026-96442HIGH

GNU Emacs GNU Emacs — Emacs: emacs: arbitrary code execution in flymake mode

  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS    EPSS   %ile   KEV
   L   L   N   R  U  H  H  H    7.8   .0017    5.5     —

AFFECTED
  Product                      Versions     Fixed
  GNU Emacs                    unspecified  —
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10  unspecified  1:29.4-14.el10_2.3
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6   unspecified  —
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7   unspecified  —
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8   unspecified  —
  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9   unspecified  —

TIMELINE
  Sep 23  Reserved by redhat
  Sep 23  Published (CNA: redhat)
  Oct 18  PATCH SHIPPED — CVE-2026-96442 (GNU Emacs). Fixed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3.

CWE-94 · CNA: redhat · CVSS v3.1 · 6 references · NVD status: Awaiting Analysis

Description

A code execution flaw was found in Emacs, affecting versions prior to 31.2. The Flymake mode using language backends other than Lisp would execute arbitrary code from the edited file while performing syntax checking. Viewing or editing untrusted files using Emacs could lead to arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running Emacs.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
Date	Event	Detail
September 23, 2026	Reserved	Reserved by redhat
September 23, 2026	Published	Published (CNA: redhat)
October 18, 2026	PATCH SHIPPED	PATCH SHIPPED — CVE-2026-96442 (GNU Emacs). Fixed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 1:29.4-14.el10_2.3.

Affected

Affected products and packages — 6 rows
Vendor	Product / Package	Ecosystem	Version introduced	Fixed
GNU Emacs	GNU Emacs	—	—	—
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10	—	—	1:29.4-14.el10_2.3
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	—	—	—
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7	—	—	—
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8	—	—	—
Red Hat	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9	—	—	—

Weaknesses

CWE-94

References (6)

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:84591 [vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT]
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-96442 [vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT]
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2537347 [issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT]
https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs/commit/135e6f63f08fee3d374fa1a5187bce941a2d3e3c
https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs/commit/abc802ee2eb0b1663349ddf22a461f8e54a383fb
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/09/14/1

Authoritative record: CVE-2026-96442 at cve.org

Vendors: gnu emacs · red hat

Weaknesses: CWE-94

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2026-96442 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.