UNIX symbolic link following in Rsync - CVE-2026-53802

 

UNIX symbolic link following in Rsync - CVE-2026-53802

Published: August 13, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU142298
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 8.4 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-53802
CWE-ID: CWE-61
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a local user to disclose sensitive information and manipulate file transfer behavior.

The vulnerability exists due to improper link resolution before file access in operator-supplied input file handling when processing paths for filter merge files, files-from lists, include-from and exclude-from lists, password files, secrets files, and daemon files-from inputs. A local user can plant a symlink in a controlled path component to disclose sensitive information and manipulate file transfer behavior.

In the password-file and secrets-file cases, file contents may be sent as the daemon authentication response. The daemon files-from variant can read a file outside the served module.


Affected software

Rsync
Debian Linux
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing LTSS 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing ESPOS 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro for Rancher
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-debugsource
rsync-debuginfo
rsync
rsync-help
rsync (Debian package)
rsync (Red Hat package)

How to mitigate CVE-2026-53802

Install security update from vendor's website.

Rsync - update to 3.5.0
rsync-debugsource - 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 - 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 (Debian package) - update to 3.5.0+ds1-0+deb13u1
rsync - addressed in versions 3.5.0-1.fc43, 3.5.0-1.fc44
rsync (Red Hat package) - update to 3.5.0-3.el10_2

External References

Related Security Bulletins