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New Check Point flaw lets hackers execute code with root privileges

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Why This Matters

This vulnerability is significant because it targets core network security infrastructure—firewalls and management servers—that enterprises rely on to protect their networks, and its low-complexity, no-authentication exploit path makes it especially dangerous. Coming on the heels of two other critical Check Point RCE flaws patched the same week, it highlights a concerning pattern of severe vulnerabilities in widely deployed security products that IT teams must urgently address.

Key Takeaways

Check Point Software has released security updates to address a critical vulnerability that can let attackers execute code with root privileges on management systems.

Tracked as CVE-2026-91843, this flaw stems from a stack-based buffer overflow weakness in the login process for Security Management Server instances, which manage Security Gateways (firewalls) and monitor network security events.

The security issue also affects the company's Log Server, a dedicated server that collects and stores logs generated by Check Point firewalls.

Successful exploitation lets threat actors without privileges gain root remote code execution in low-complexity attacks that don't require user interaction.

Check Point also provided temporary mitigation measures for customers who can't deploy the latest LivePatch, including hardening vulnerable systems against attacks and limiting access to trusted IP addresses/subnets by editing the entries under Manage & Settings > Permissions & Administrators > Trusted Clients in the SmartConsole dashboard.

While the company has not yet flagged this security flaw as actively exploited, it said security teams can identify CVE-2026-91843 attacks by looking for "Administrator failed to log in: Username too long" alerts in the Audit and Admin login logs.

CVE-2026-91843 alert in SmartConsole (Check Point Software)

Last week, it patched another critical remote code execution flaw (CVE-2026-85103) stemming from a heap overflow in the VPN certificate ASN.1 decoding flow that affects Check Point firewalls and management systems.

"All Security Management Server deployments are vulnerable, regardless of configuration," Check Point warned. "The vulnerability is not dependent on any specific management configuration. The management is vulnerable even when VPN in not in use or configured."

The same day, it patched a second critical flaw (CVE-2026-85102) that lets unauthenticated hackers bypass authentication and execute code remotely on vulnerable firewalls.

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