CVE-2026-48813

Received Received - Intake

Terminal/ANSI Escape Sequence Injection in Flawfinder

Publication date: 2026-08-11

Last updated on: 2026-08-12

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description

Flawfinder is a a static analysis tool for finding vulnerabilities in C/C++ source code. Versions prior to 2.0.20 have an improper input neutralization issue leading to output manipulation, specifically, Terminal/ANSI Escape Sequence Injection and XML Injection. A malicious file whose name contains ANSI escape sequences can end up being included in flawfinder's standard terminal output, with many effects. Untrusted fields (such as filenames, categories, or code context text) were not properly sanitized when generating structured reports. An attacker could exploit this to corrupt CSV formats or inject arbitrary XML attributes into SonarQube outputs via output_sonar(). It impacts those who use flawfinder to evaluate intentionally malicious filenames or file contents. This issue has been fully patched in Version 2.0.20 (released 2026-05-16). There is no configuration-based workaround within older versions of flawfinder. If an immediate upgrade is not possible, users can mitigate the risk by pre-scanning filenames, inspecting raw output, and/or restricting untrusted inputs.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-08-11

Last Modified

2026-08-12

Generated

2026-09-01

AI Q&A

2026-08-12

EPSS Evaluated

2026-08-30

NVD

CVE-2026-48813

EUVD

EUVD-2026-56901

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
david_a_wheeler	flawfinder	to 2.0.20 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-74	The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-48813 is an improper input neutralization flaw in flawfinder, a static analysis tool for C/C++ code. Versions before 2.0.20 fail to sanitize untrusted input like filenames or code context, allowing Terminal/ANSI Escape Sequence Injection and XML Injection. Attackers can manipulate output by including control characters in malicious files.

Detection Guidance

To detect this vulnerability, check the version of flawfinder installed on your system using the command flawfinder --version. If the version is below 2.0.20, your system is vulnerable. Additionally, inspect any output files generated by flawfinder for unusual characters or corrupted formats, especially CSV or XML files.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability allows attackers to hide scan results in terminal output or corrupt structured reports like CSV/XML files. It could inject arbitrary data into SonarQube outputs via output_sonar(). Users processing untrusted filenames or contents are at risk of output manipulation.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily affects data integrity and output handling in flawfinder's reports. While it does not directly expose sensitive data, it could allow attackers to manipulate terminal outputs or corrupt structured reports like CSV or XML files. This may impact compliance by potentially obscuring scan results or injecting misleading data into audit trails, which could violate record-keeping requirements in standards like HIPAA or GDPR if such outputs are used for compliance documentation.

Mitigation Strategies

Immediately upgrade flawfinder to version 2.0.20 or later. If upgrading is not possible, mitigate risks by pre-scanning filenames for malicious characters, inspecting raw output for anomalies, and restricting untrusted inputs to flawfinder.

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