PatchSiren

PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2026-44050 Netatalk CVE debrief

CVE-2026-44050 is a critical heap-based buffer overflow in Netatalk’s CNID daemon comm_rcv() function. According to the published NVD record and vendor reference, a remote authenticated attacker can potentially execute arbitrary code with escalated privileges or trigger a denial of service on affected Netatalk versions 2.0.0 through 4.4.2.

Vendor
Netatalk
Product
Unknown
CVSS
CRITICAL 9.9
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2026-05-21
Original CVE updated
2026-05-21
Advisory published
2026-05-21
Advisory updated
2026-05-21

Who should care

Administrators and security teams running Netatalk services, especially environments that allow authenticated remote access to the CNID daemon. Asset owners should prioritize any deployment that exposes Netatalk to user-controlled network traffic or relies on it for file sharing.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is identified as a heap-based buffer overflow (CWE-122) in comm_rcv() within Netatalk’s CNID daemon. The NVD metadata rates it CVSS 3.1 9.9/Critical with network attack vector, low attack complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, and scope changed. The impact described by the source is remote code execution with escalated privileges or denial of service. The affected version range listed in the source is Netatalk 2.0.0 through 4.4.2.

Defensive priority

Immediate. The combination of network reachability, low privilege requirements, and potential code execution makes this a high-priority remediation item for any environment running Netatalk within the affected range.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Identify all Netatalk deployments and verify whether any instance is running versions 2.0.0 through 4.4.2.
  • Treat exposed or remotely reachable Netatalk services as urgent remediation targets.
  • Apply the vendor-recommended fix or upgrade path referenced by the Netatalk security advisory for CVE-2026-44050.
  • If immediate patching is not possible, restrict access to Netatalk services to trusted hosts and authenticated administrative paths only.
  • Monitor for abnormal daemon crashes, unexpected restarts, or signs of service instability affecting the CNID daemon.
  • Prioritize validation of any compensating controls because the issue can lead to both denial of service and possible code execution.

Evidence notes

The debrief is based only on the official NVD record and the vendor security reference linked from that record. The NVD entry states the flaw is a heap-based buffer overflow in Netatalk CNID daemon comm_rcv(), affects versions 2.0.0 through 4.4.2, and maps to CWE-122 with CVSS 3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H. The source also links to a Netatalk security page for CVE-2026-44050.

Official resources

Published in the official vulnerability databases on 2026-05-21, with the same-day NVD record modification timestamp. The source corpus provides a vendor-linked security reference at netatalk.io for CVE-2026-44050.