CVE-2026-53910
Received Received - Intake

Heap-based Buffer Overflow in GNU diff3

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-53910, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-07-22

Last updated on: 2026-07-22

Assigner: CERT.PL

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

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Meta Information

Published
2026-07-22
Last Modified
2026-07-22
Generated
2026-07-22
AI Q&A
2026-07-22
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
gnu diffutils to 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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CWE ID Description
CWE-190 The product performs a calculation that can produce an integer overflow or wraparound when the logic assumes that the resulting value will always be larger than the original value. This occurs when an integer value is incremented to a value that is too large to store in the associated representation. When this occurs, the value may become a very small or negative number.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a heap-based buffer overflow in GNU diffutils' diff3 tool caused by signed integer overflows during line-mapping calculations. Incorrect arithmetic can corrupt values used for memory allocation and loop bounds, leading to out-of-bounds writes when processing crafted diff output.

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking for outdated versions of GNU diffutils. Run 'diff3 --version' to check the installed version. If it predates the fixed commit 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815, the system is vulnerable.

Impact Analysis

An attacker who controls the diff output used by diff3 can trigger crashes or potentially execute arbitrary code on your system. This requires the attacker to manipulate the --diff-program option to point to malicious code.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily affects system integrity and availability through potential crashes and remote code execution. It does not directly impact data confidentiality or privacy, which are key concerns for GDPR and HIPAA. However, if exploited in systems handling sensitive data, it could indirectly lead to compliance violations by compromising system security.

Mitigation Strategies

Update GNU diffutils to a version containing the fix in commit 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815. Disable the --diff-program option if it is not required to prevent malicious script execution.

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