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CVE-2026-53910

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in GNU diffutils

2.1 LowFix availableDisputed

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.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

Exploit likelihood

0.29%Unchanged since Jul 23, 2026
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 2.1

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in GNU diffutils

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.

Record
CVE-2026-53910
CVSS 4.0
2.1 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
Weakness
CWE-190
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-47695 2.1

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.

Record
EUVD-2026-47695
CVSS 4.0
2.1 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
Updated
2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-9pwr-gcwm-8wj5 2.1

diff3 tool from GNU diffutils is vulnerable to a heap‑based buffer overflow due to multiple...

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

Record
GHSA-9pwr-gcwm-8wj5
CVSS 4.0
2.1 LowCVSS:4.0/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
Weakness
CWE-190
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 2.1

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.

Record
CVE-2026-53910
CVSS 4.0
2.1 LowCVSS:4.0/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
Weakness
CWE-190
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 2.1

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in GNU diffutils

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.

Record
CVE-2026-53910
CVSS 4.0
2.1 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
Weakness
CWE-190
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2026-53910 2.1

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.

Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53910
CVSS 4.0
2.1 LowCVSS:4.0/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
Updated
2026-11-02
Show 9 moreShow less
OSVOESA-2026-3341 5.3

diffutils security update

GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding differences between files.

Security Fix(es):

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-2026-53910)

Record
OESA-2026-3341
CVSS 3.1
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVOESA-2026-3342 5.3

diffutils security update

GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding differences between files.

Security Fix(es):

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-2026-53910)

Record
OESA-2026-3342
CVSS 3.1
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVOESA-2026-3343 5.3

diffutils security update

GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding differences between files.

Security Fix(es):

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-2026-53910)

Record
OESA-2026-3343
CVSS 3.1
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVOESA-2026-3344 5.3

diffutils security update

GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding differences between files.

Security Fix(es):

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-2026-53910)

Record
OESA-2026-3344
CVSS 3.1
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVOESA-2026-3444 5.3

diffutils security update

GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding differences between files.

Security Fix(es):

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-2026-53910)

Record
OESA-2026-3444
CVSS 3.1
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVRHSA-2026:45327 5.3

Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs Security Update

Record
RHSA-2026:45327
CVSS 3.1
5.3 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2026-53910 2.1

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.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53910
CVSS 4.0
2.1 LowCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2026-0434 No score

Updated diffutils packages fix a security vulnerability

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in GNU diffutils. (CVE-2026-53910)

Record
MGASA-2026-0434
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUSN-8692-1 No score

diffutils vulnerability

It was discovered that GNU diffutils incorrectly handled certain integer arithmetic when mapping line ranges in diff3. A local attacker could possibly use this issue to cause diff3 to crash, resulting in a denial of service.

Record
USN-8692-1
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
diffutils
Alpaquita:25
3.12-r0 up to 3.12-r1
3.12-r1
diffutils
Alpaquita:stream
3.8-r1 up to 3.12-r1
3.12-r1
diffutils
BellSoft Hardened Containers:25
3.12-r0 up to 3.12-r1
3.12-r1
diffutils
BellSoft Hardened Containers:stream
3.8-r1 up to 3.12-r1
3.12-r1
diffutils
Debian:12
All versions, plus listed versions
1:3.10-11:3.10-21:3.10-31:3.10-41:3.12-11:3.8-41:3.8-4+hurd.1
None known
diffutils
Debian:13
All versions, plus listed versions
1:3.10-41:3.12-1
None known
diffutils
Debian:14
All versions, plus listed versions
1:3.10-41:3.12-1
None known
diffutils
Mageia:10
before 3.12-1.1.mga10
3.12-1.1.mga10
diffutils
Mageia:9
before 3.10-1.1.mga9
3.10-1.1.mga9
diffutils
openEuler:22.03-LTS-SP4
before 3.8-4.oe2203sp4
3.8-4.oe2203sp4
Show 12 moreShow less
Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
diffutils
openEuler:24.03-LTS-SP1
before 3.10-3.oe2403sp1
3.10-3.oe2403sp1
diffutils
openEuler:24.03-LTS-SP3
before 3.10-3.oe2403sp3
3.10-3.oe2403sp3
diffutils
openEuler:20.03-LTS-SP4
before 3.7-4.oe2003sp4
3.7-4.oe2003sp4
diffutils
openEuler:24.03-LTS-SP4
before 3.10-3.oe2403sp4
3.10-3.oe2403sp4
diffutils
Red Hat:hummingbird:1
before 0:3.12-6.1.hum1
0:3.12-6.1.hum1
diffutils
Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS
before 1:3.3-1ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions
1:3.2-81:3.3-1
1:3.3-1ubuntu0.1~esm1
diffutils
Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS
before 1:3.3-3ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions
1:3.3-11:3.3-21:3.3-3
1:3.3-3ubuntu0.1~esm1
diffutils
Ubuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS
before 1:3.6-1ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions
1:3.6-1
1:3.6-1ubuntu0.1~esm1
diffutils
Ubuntu:Pro:20.04:LTS
before 1:3.7-3ubuntu0.1~esm1, plus listed versions
1:3.7-3
1:3.7-3ubuntu0.1~esm1
diffutils
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS
before 1:3.8-0ubuntu2.1, plus listed versions
1:3.8-0ubuntu11:3.8-0ubuntu2
1:3.8-0ubuntu2.1
diffutils
Ubuntu:24.04:LTS
before 1:3.10-1ubuntu0.1, plus listed versions
1:3.8-41:3.10-11:3.10-1build1
1:3.10-1ubuntu0.1
diffutils
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS
before 1:3.12-1ubuntu0.1, plus listed versions
1:3.10-41:3.12-1
1:3.12-1ubuntu0.1

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2026-53910 is a low vulnerability (CVSS 2.1) in Gnu Diffutils, published July 22, 2026. Its validity is disputed. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.29%, the 21st percentile. Fixed in diffutils 3.12-r1.

References

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