Link following in Rsync - CVE-2026-53803

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Main Vulnerability Database Vulnerabilities #VU142297

Link following in Rsync - CVE-2026-53803

Published: August 13, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU142297
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 8.5 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-53803
CWE-ID: CWE-59
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a local user to overwrite arbitrary files and escalate privileges.

The vulnerability exists due to improper link resolution before file access in rsync output and ancillary file path handling when opening operator-supplied paths such as --log-file, --write-batch, --read-batch, and daemon ancillary files. A local user can plant a symlink in the target path or a parent path component to overwrite arbitrary files and escalate privileges.

For --read-batch, a planted symlink, FIFO, or device can supply chosen bytes to the protocol parser.


Affected software

Rsync
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4
Debian Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing LTSS 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing ESPOS 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro for Rancher
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro
Anolis OS
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, little endian
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM 64
Basesystem Module
openSUSE Leap
openEuler
Fedora
rsync (Red Hat package)
rsync-doc
rsync-daemon
rsync
rsync-debugsource
rsync-debuginfo
rsync-help
rsync (Debian package)

How to mitigate CVE-2026-53803

Install security update from vendor's website.

Rsync - update to 3.5.0
rsync (Red Hat package) - addressed in versions 3.1.3-28.el8_10, 3.5.0-3.el10_2
rsync-doc - update to 3.1.3-28.0.1
rsync-daemon - update to 3.1.3-28.0.1
rsync - update to 3.1.3-28.0.1
rsync-debugsource - addressed in versions 3.2.3-150400.3.34.1, 3.2.7-150600.3.24.1
rsync - addressed in versions 3.2.3-150400.3.34.1, 3.2.7-150600.3.24.1
rsync-debuginfo - addressed in versions 3.2.3-150400.3.34.1, 3.2.7-150600.3.24.1
rsync-help - update to 3.2.7-12
rsync-debugsource - update to 3.2.7-12
rsync-debuginfo - update to 3.2.7-12
rsync - update to 3.2.7-12
rsync - addressed in versions 3.5.0-1.fc43, 3.5.0-1.fc44
rsync (Debian package) - update to 3.5.0+ds1-0+deb13u1

External References

Related Security Bulletins