Description
A logic error in the env utility of uutils coreutils causes a failure to correctly parse command-line arguments when utilizing the -S (split-string) option. In GNU env, backslashes within single quotes are treated literally (with the exceptions of \\ and \'). However, the uutils implementation incorrectly attempts to validate these sequences, resulting in an "invalid sequence" error and an immediate process termination with an exit status of 125 when encountering valid but unrecognized sequences like \a or \x. This divergence from GNU behavior breaks compatibility for automated scripts and administrative workflows that rely on standard split-string semantics, leading to a local denial of service for those operations.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uutils | coreutils | — | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | rust-coreutils | 0.10.0-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | rust-coreutils | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | rust-coreutils | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | rust-coreutils | 0.10.0-1ubuntu1 | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | rust-coreutils | 0.10.0-1ubuntu2~26.04.1 | USN-9041-1 |
| Ubuntu 25.10 | rust-coreutils | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | rust-coreutils | No fix yet | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | uutils | 0.8.0-r2 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| crates.io | coreutils | <= 0.8.0 | — | GHSA-5v4g-vw9x-h534 |
Advisories 1
- USN-9041-1 rust-coreutils vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 12, 2026
References
- https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/11512 issue-tracking patch