What is CVE-2026-81885?

CVE-2026-81885 is radare2: Infinite relocation-chain loop causes denial of service in radare2 NE parser. The supplied enrichment data classifies it as Denial of Service mapped to CWE-770 CWE-770; CWE-835 CWE-835.

Which versions are affected?

Affected product and version evidence is listed in the product table above. Current public advisories should be checked for exact version scope before patch targeting is finalized.

Is there active exploitation?

Active exploitation is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-81885. If exploitation is not confirmed from current sources, teams should document that status and continue monitoring KEV, vendor, and telemetry updates.

No. CVE-2026-81885 is not listed in CISA KEV in the supplied enrichment data. KEV status should be monitored because it can change after initial disclosure or after exploitation becomes publicly confirmed.

Is there a public exploit?

A public PoC is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-81885. Public exploit or PoC availability should raise triage priority, especially for exposed or business-critical systems.

How can defenders detect it?

Start with Not reported where available. Look for vulnerability-class behavior, product errors, suspicious authentication events, exploit probes, and abnormal process activity based only on evidence that applies to the affected product.

How should teams prioritize it?

Prioritize CVE-2026-81885 using CVSS 5.5, EPSS 0%, KEV status, public PoC status, and asset exposure. Internet-facing, privileged, or business-critical deployments should be handled first.

Are workarounds available?

The supplied mitigation guidance says to apply vendor patches and restrict external exposure until fixed. Fixed-version evidence is listed in the mitigation section above.

Which threat actors are linked publicly?

No public threat actor linkage is confirmed from current sources. Do not attribute exploitation to a threat actor unless the source evidence explicitly supports that linkage.

What should be done in the next 24 hours?

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations. Prioritize based on EPSS, PoC availability, and external exposure. Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class. Open remediation tickets with affected assets, owners, evidence status, and detection coverage so decisions are traceable.

mediumDenial of Service

CVE-2026-81885

CVE-2026-81885 — radare2: Infinite relocation-chain loop causes denial of service in radare2 NE parser

radare2 is a UNIX-like reverse engineering framework and command-line toolset. Prior to 6.2.0, radare2's NE relocation fixup-chain parser was vulnerable because the NE relocation parser followed fixup chains without an active iteration limit or cycle detection. The vulnerability is triggered by opening a crafted NE executable whose in-bounds relocation entry points back to itself instead of reaching 0xffff. The parser repeatedly processed the same relocation and allocated another relocation object on each iteration. This can cause denial of service through continuous CPU and memory consumption. This issue is fixed in version 6.2.0.

Published Sep 22, 2026Updated Sep 22, 2026Sources: NVD, radareorg (CNA), GitHub, SOCRadar CTI

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Unreported

no source claims exploitation

EPSS

ahead of 0% of scored CVEs

Affects

radareorg

radare2

CVSS base

5.5

medium

Remediation

The vendor's own words where we have them.

Upgrade radare2 to a fixed release. Apply vendor patches per advisory and restrict external exposure of the affected component until patched.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
Prioritize based on EPSS, PoC availability, and external exposure.
Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status
radareorg	radare2	< 6.2.0	Vulnerable

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Availability

High

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Scope

Unchanged

Attack Complexity

Low

Attack Vector

Local

Privileges Req

None

User Interaction

Required

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
5.5	CVSS 3.1	medium	1.8	3.6	GitHub (CNA), radareorg (CNA)

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

What this weakness leads to

MITRE's own consequences and mitigations for the weakness class — the authority's wording, not guidance derived from the CVSS vector.

MITRE

CWE-835 · Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')

DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
DoS: Amplification

CWE-770 · Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)

Mitigation: Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-770
CWE-835

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

CAPEC-125 · FloodingCAPEC-130 · Excessive AllocationCAPEC-147 · XML Ping of the DeathCAPEC-197 · XML Entity ExpansionCAPEC-229 · Serialized Data Parameter BlowupCAPEC-230 · XML Nested PayloadsCAPEC-231 · Oversized Serialized Data PayloadsCAPEC-469 · HTTP DoSCAPEC-482 · TCP FloodCAPEC-486 · UDP FloodCAPEC-487 · ICMP FloodCAPEC-488 · HTTP Flood

T1498.001Network Denial of Service: Direct Network Flood
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service
T1499.003Endpoint Denial of Service: Application Exhaustion Flood

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.

2026
Added · CVSS 3.1 5.5 (AV:L)
Sep 22, 2026 · NVD
Initial · CVE published
Sep 22, 2026 · NVD
CVE published by MITRE.
Sep 22, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI

References

5 on the record

github.com/radareorg/radare2/commit/93d794caa7c2f08413106255d49546e544c1f9f0
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
github.com/radareorg/radare2/issues/26225
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
github.com/radareorg/radare2/pull/26192
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
github.com/radareorg/radare2/releases/tag/6.2.0
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
github.com/radareorg/radare2/security/advisories/GHSA-43wr-4j49-rcxj
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre

Elsewhere on this site

radareorgevery CVE for this vendor
Denial of Servicesame class
CWE-770other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record1

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-81885 is radare2: Infinite relocation-chain loop causes denial of service in radare2 NE parser, a medium vulnerability affecting radare2 from radareorg. The current evidence does not list it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Active exploitation is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-81885. Public exploit evidence is: A public PoC is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-81885. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 5.5 describes technical severity, while EPSS 0% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.