rsync < 3.5.0 Symlink Following Arbitrary File Overwrite (RsyncProject rsync)

CVE-2026-53803
HIGH 8.5

At a glance

Source
NVD
EPSS
EPSS 0.23 % · percentile 14 ()
State
PUBLISHED
Published
Updated
Assigner
VulnCheck
NVD status
Analyzed

Description

rsync before 3.5.0 contains a symlink following vulnerability that allows local attackers to overwrite arbitrary files by placing a symlink at a predictable output path such as --log-file, --write-batch, or daemon-mode log and statistics paths. Attackers can exploit rsync's failure to reject symlinks during ancillary file writes to redirect output to arbitrary filesystem locations, achieving local privilege escalation on installations where rsync runs with elevated privileges such as setuid or privileged daemon configurations.

Weaknesses (CWE)

  • CWE-59 — Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

References

Scores

VersionScoreVectorScored by
CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.5CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:NVulnCheck
CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.8CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HVulnCheck
CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.5CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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:XNVD · disclosure@vulncheck.com (Secondary)
CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.8CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HNVD · disclosure@vulncheck.com (Secondary)

European references

Affected configurations (NVD CPE)

Affected products

ProductVersions
RsyncProject · rsyncaffected 0 ≤ 3.4.4 ; unaffected 3.5.0

Sources

SourceLicence
CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5)CVE Program Terms of Use
EPSS (FIRST.org)FIRST — attribution requested
ENISA EUVDENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged
NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feedsPublic domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD