CVE-2026-53910
Heap-based Buffer Overflow in GNU diffutils
Description
diff3 tool from GNU diffutils is vulnerable to a heap‑based buffer overflow due to multiple signed integer overflows in line‑mapping calculations. Incorrect arithmetic in mapping line ranges can result in corrupted values being used for memory allocation and loop bounds. When processing crafted diff output, these overflows may cause the application to allocate insufficient memory and subsequently perform out‑of‑bounds writes during internal processing. An attacker who can control the output of the diff program used by diff3 (e.g. via --diff-program pointing to a malicious script) can trigger out-of-bounds writes, resulting in a crash and potentially remote code execution depending on the environment. This issue has been fixed in commit 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815 NOTE: The project maintainers claim that this is not a security issue. They state that the worst outcome this issue can cause is a crash of diff and that it cannot be used to escalate privileges.
INFO
Published Date :
July 22, 2026, 2:17 p.m.
Last Modified :
July 27, 2026, 12:16 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
[email protected]
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 | |||||
| CVSS 4.0 | LOW | 4bb8329e-dd38-46c1-aafb-9bf32bcb93c6 | ||||
| CVSS 4.0 | LOW | [email protected] |
Solution
- Update GNU diffutils to the latest version.
- Apply the security patch for commit 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815.
- Ensure diff-program is not controlled by untrusted input.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-53910.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-53910 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-53910
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-53910 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
-
cert.pl
Vulnerability in GNU diffutils software
Vulnerability in GNU diffutils software CVE ID CVE-2026-53910 Publication date 22 July 2026 Vendor GNU Product diffutils Vulnerable versions All through 3.12 Vulnerability type (CWE) Integer Overflow ... Read more
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-53910 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
CVE Modified by [email protected]
Jul. 27, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Tag disputed Changed Description diff3 tool from GNU diffutils is vulnerable to a heap‑based buffer overflow due to multiple signed integer overflows in line‑mapping calculations. Incorrect arithmetic in mapping line ranges can result in corrupted values being used for memory allocation and loop bounds. When processing crafted diff output, these overflows may cause the application to allocate insufficient memory and subsequently perform out‑of‑bounds writes during internal processing. An attacker who can control the output of the diff program used by diff3 (e.g. via --diff-program pointing to a malicious script) can trigger out-of-bounds writes, resulting in a crash and potentially remote code execution depending on the environment. This issue has been fixed in commit 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815 diff3 tool from GNU diffutils is vulnerable to a heap‑based buffer overflow due to multiple signed integer overflows in line‑mapping calculations. Incorrect arithmetic in mapping line ranges can result in corrupted values being used for memory allocation and loop bounds. When processing crafted diff output, these overflows may cause the application to allocate insufficient memory and subsequently perform out‑of‑bounds writes during internal processing. An attacker who can control the output of the diff program used by diff3 (e.g. via --diff-program pointing to a malicious script) can trigger out-of-bounds writes, resulting in a crash and potentially remote code execution depending on the environment. This issue has been fixed in commit 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815 NOTE: The project maintainers claim that this is not a security issue. They state that the worst outcome this issue can cause is a crash of diff and that it cannot be used to escalate privileges. -
CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Jul. 22, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added SSVC {'id': 'CVE-2026-53910', 'role': 'CISA Coordinator', 'options': [{'exploitation': 'none'}, {'automatable': 'no'}, {'technicalImpact': 'partial'}], 'version': '2.0.3', 'timestamp': '2026-07-22T19:11:21.494984Z'} -
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Jul. 22, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/', 'vendor': 'GNU', 'modules': ['diff3'], 'product': 'diffutils', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '0', 'versionType': 'custom', 'lessThanOrEqual': '3.12'}], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}] Added Description diff3 tool from GNU diffutils is vulnerable to a heap‑based buffer overflow due to multiple signed integer overflows in line‑mapping calculations. Incorrect arithmetic in mapping line ranges can result in corrupted values being used for memory allocation and loop bounds. When processing crafted diff output, these overflows may cause the application to allocate insufficient memory and subsequently perform out‑of‑bounds writes during internal processing. An attacker who can control the output of the diff program used by diff3 (e.g. via --diff-program pointing to a malicious script) can trigger out-of-bounds writes, resulting in a crash and potentially remote code execution depending on the environment. This issue has been fixed in commit 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815 Added CVSS V4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Added CWE CWE-190 Added Reference https://cert.pl/en/posts/2026/07/CVE-2026-53910 Added Reference https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/commit/?id=73ed7ce85cc78effb94daf028c9af6b4e5252e50 Added Reference https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/commit/?id=9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815 Added Reference https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/