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5.3
GNU Diffutils diff3 tool memory overflow risk
published 2 months ago
Summary
A security fix has been applied to the diff3 tool in GNU Diffutils to prevent a memory overflow issue. This issue could cause the tool to crash, but it does not allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access to a system. The fix is included in the latest version of the software, and users should update to the latest version to ensure they have the security fix.
What to do
- Update openeuler diffutils to version 3.7-4.oe2003sp4.
Affected software
| Ecosystem | Vendor | Product | Affected versions |
|---|---|---|---|
| openEuler:20.03-LTS-SP4 | openeuler | diffutils |
< 3.7-4.oe2003sp4 Fix: upgrade to 3.7-4.oe2003sp4
|
Original advisory text
diffutils security update
GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding differences between files.
Security Fix(es):
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
NOTE:
The project maintainers claim that this is not a security issue. They state that the worst outcome this issue can cause is a crash of diff and that it cannot be used to escalate privileges.(CVE-2026-53910)
Security Fix(es):
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
NOTE:
The project maintainers claim that this is not a security issue. They state that the worst outcome this issue can cause is a crash of diff and that it cannot be used to escalate privileges.(CVE-2026-53910)
References
- https://www.openeuler.org/zh/security/security-bulletins/detail/?id=openEuler-SA... Vendor Advisory
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53910 Vendor Advisory
Internet-facing
60 days
Internal
At next upgrade
- Not known to be exploited
- Needs hands-on effort to exploit (estimated)
- Gives an attacker partial control (estimated)
Timeline
Published13 Aug 2026
Updated16 Aug 2026
First seen16 Aug 2026
Sources
OESA-2026-3344 · OSV
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