⚠ Reference material — not professional advice. Test in staging, back up first, verify against your specific version. Use your own judgment for your environment.
● Low · CVSS 0.6

How to Fix CVE-2026-23999: Use of insufficiently random values in fleet

By Sai Kiran Pandrala. Last verified: 2026-05-25.

CVE-2026-23999 is a use of insufficiently random values in fleetdm fleet. The fix is to apply the vendor patch noted below.

⚡ At a glance
Severity0.6 (Low)
Actively exploited?No public listing in CISA KEV
Affectedfleet < 4.80.1
Fixed inSee vendor advisory
Type (CWE)CWE-330: Use of Insufficiently Random Values

What is CVE-2026-23999?

Fleet is open source device management software. In versions prior to 4.80.1, Fleet generated device lock and wipe PINs using a predictable algorithm based solely on the current Unix timestamp. Because no secret key or additional entropy was used, the resulting PIN could potentially be derived if the approximate time the device was locked is known. Fleet’s device lock and wipe commands generate a 6-digit PIN that is displayed to administrators for unlocking a device. In affected versions, this PIN was deterministically derived from the current timestamp. An attacker with physical possession of a locked device and knowledge of the approximate time the lock command was issued could theoretically predict the correct PIN within a limited search window. However, successful exploitation is constrained by multiple factors: Physical access to the device is required, the approximate lock time must be known, the operating system enforces rate limiting on PIN entry attempts, attempts would need to be spread over, and device wipe operations would typically complete before sufficient attempts could be made. As a result, this issue does not allow remote exploitation, fleet-wide compromise, or bypass of Fleet authentication controls. Version 4.80.1 contains a patch. No known workarounds are available. The CVSS base score is 0.6 (Low). The official advisory is at https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-ppwx-5jq7-px2w.

Am I affected?

Check the version of fleet you are running and compare it against the Affected row above (fleet < 4.80.1). If your build sits inside the affected range, you must patch.

Run the version check that fits your platform:


# Linux package check
dpkg -s fleet 2>/dev/null | grep -i ^Version
rpm -q fleet 2>/dev/null
command -v fleet >/dev/null && fleet --version 2>/dev/null


# Windows (PowerShell)
Get-Package -Name "*fleet*" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object Name, Version
winget list --name "fleet" 2>$null

How to fix CVE-2026-23999

Upgrade fleet to a patched build: See vendor advisory. The vendor advisory is the source of truth for the exact fixed version.

Ubuntu / Debian


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade fleet
dpkg -s fleet | grep -i ^Version

RHEL / CentOS / Rocky / AlmaLinux


sudo dnf upgrade --refresh fleet -y
# or for older releases:
sudo yum update fleet -y
rpm -q fleet

SUSE / openSUSE


sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper update fleet
rpm -q fleet

Complete PowerShell remediation script (Windows)


# Fix script for CVE-2026-23999 affecting fleet
# Run as administrator. Detect -> backup -> upgrade -> verify -> log.

$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
$LogPath  = "C:\Logs\CVE-2026-23999-fix-$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd-HHmmss).log"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force (Split-Path $LogPath) | Out-Null
Start-Transcript -Path $LogPath -Append

try {
    Write-Host "[1/4] Detect installed version"
    $pkg = Get-Package -Name "*fleet*" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($pkg) { $pkg | Format-Table Name, Version }
    else { Write-Host "Not detected via Get-Package; try winget list" }

    Write-Host "[2/4] Backup configuration"
    $backup = "C:\Backup\fleet-$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd)"
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force $backup | Out-Null
    Get-ChildItem "C:\ProgramData\fleet" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
        Copy-Item -Destination $backup -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    Write-Host "[3/4] Apply the upgrade to See vendor advisory"
    winget upgrade --name "fleet" --silent --accept-source-agreements --accept-package-agreements
    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
        # Fallback: pull latest via OS update channel
        Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdate -Force -SkipPublisherCheck -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate
        Install-WindowsUpdate -MicrosoftUpdate -AcceptAll -IgnoreReboot
    }

    Write-Host "[4/4] Verify the patched build"
    winget list --name "fleet"
    Write-Host "Patch applied. Reboot if prompted."
    exit 0
} catch {
    Write-Error "Patch failed: $_"
    exit 1
} finally {
    Stop-Transcript
}

Complete Bash remediation script (Linux)


#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Fix script for CVE-2026-23999 affecting fleet
# Detect -> backup -> upgrade -> verify -> log.

set -euo pipefail
LOG="/var/log/cve-2026-23999-fix-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).log"
exec > >(tee -a "$LOG") 2>&1

echo "[1/4] Detect installed version"
if command -v dpkg >/dev/null; then
    dpkg -s fleet 2>/dev/null | grep -i ^Version || echo "fleet not installed via dpkg"
elif command -v rpm >/dev/null; then
    rpm -q fleet || echo "fleet not installed via rpm"
fi

echo "[2/4] Backup configuration"
BACKUP="/root/backup-cve-2026-23999-$(date +%Y%m%d)"
mkdir -p "$BACKUP"
for d in /etc/fleet /etc/fleet.d /etc/fleet.conf; do
    [ -e "$d" ] && cp -a "$d" "$BACKUP/" || true
done

echo "[3/4] Apply the upgrade (target: See vendor advisory)"
if command -v apt-get >/dev/null; then
    apt-get update
    apt-get install --only-upgrade -y fleet
elif command -v dnf >/dev/null; then
    dnf upgrade --refresh -y fleet
elif command -v yum >/dev/null; then
    yum update -y fleet
elif command -v zypper >/dev/null; then
    zypper --non-interactive update fleet
fi

echo "[4/4] Verify the patched build"
if command -v dpkg >/dev/null; then
    dpkg -s fleet 2>/dev/null | grep -i ^Version
elif command -v rpm >/dev/null; then
    rpm -q fleet
fi
echo "Done. Restart any service that loaded the old library."

If you can't patch immediately

Apply at least one of the following inline controls until you can deploy the patched build. None replace the upgrade.

Restrict exposure with nftables (Linux)


# Allow only trusted CIDR to reach the affected service ports
sudo nft add table inet filter 2>/dev/null || true
sudo nft 'add chain inet filter input { type filter hook input priority 0 ; }' 2>/dev/null || true
sudo nft 'add rule inet filter input tcp dport {80, 443} ip saddr != 10.0.0.0/8 drop'
sudo nft list ruleset

Block at the host firewall (Windows)


New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Block-CVE-2026-23999" -Direction Inbound -Action Block -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 80,443 -RemoteAddress Any -Enabled True
Get-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Block-CVE-2026-23999"

Disable the affected service (Linux)


sudo systemctl stop fleet 2>/dev/null || true
sudo systemctl disable fleet 2>/dev/null || true

If the vendor advisory lists an official workaround, prefer that wording verbatim. If no workaround is published, the only safe remediation is the patch.

How to verify the fix worked

After upgrading, confirm the installed version matches the patched build and that no old library is still loaded by a long-running process.


# Linux
dpkg -s fleet 2>/dev/null | grep -i ^Version
rpm -q fleet 2>/dev/null || true
# Pid map check for old library handles
sudo lsof +c0 2>/dev/null | grep -i "DEL.*lib" || true


# Windows
Get-Package -Name "*fleet*" | Select-Object Name, Version
Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object -First 5

Expected: the reported version is at or above See vendor advisory. Restart the affected service (systemctl restart <service> on Linux, or restart the Windows service) so it loads the patched binary.

Frequently asked questions

Other vulnerabilities in the same area that are worth patching alongside this one:

Is CVE-2026-23999 actively exploited?

There is no public confirmation of exploitation in the wild listed in CISA KEV at the time of this writing. Patch anyway. Public exploits commonly follow disclosure within weeks.

Do I need to reboot after patching CVE-2026-23999?

For kernel and OS-level updates, yes. For most userland packages a systemctl restart <service> is enough on Linux, and restarting the Windows service or app on Windows. Any process that loaded the old library keeps using it until restarted.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-23999?

0.6 (Low). Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:P/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U.

Where is the official advisory for CVE-2026-23999?

The vendor advisory is at https://github.com/fleetdm/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-ppwx-5jq7-px2w. The NVD record is at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23999.

References

*Written by Sai Kiran Pandrala. Assembled from the official vendor advisory, NVD record, and CISA KEV listing on 2026-05-25. Always confirm against the vendor's advisory before applying changes in production.*