NovumOS: Nova Interpreter Privilege Escalation

Description

NovumOS is a custom 32-bit operating system written in Zig and x86 Assembly. Prior to version 0.25-beta.1, the `Nova` interpreter runs in Ring 0 with unrestricted kernel-memory access. Loading a malicious `.nv` script through the shell permits a local user to execute code with kernel privileges without security checks. The advisory identifies VM initialization in `zig/nova/vm.zig` as the affected component; script execution is not isolated in a restricted Ring 3 privilege domain. This issue is fixed in version 0.25-beta.1.

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.13% · top 97% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.6.

Weakness

• CWE-250: Execution with Unnecessary Privileges (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-250 and its CVEs

Affected products

• MinecAnton209 · NovumOS

  • affected < 0.25-beta.1

References (3)

• https://github.com/MinecAnton209/NovumOS/security/advisories/GHSA-rq9v-wxp3-ffrr (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
• https://github.com/MinecAnton209/NovumOS/commit/ca3e7a6b4bcdcac23413d39ecf863b94e6a3a207 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
• https://github.com/MinecAnton209/NovumOS/tree/v0.25-beta.1 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2026-40573](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2026-40573.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2026-40573)

Record last updated 5 Nov 2026, 02:46 UTC.