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
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.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| GNU | diffutils | ≤ 3.12 | — |
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 | diffutils | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 13 | diffutils | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | diffutils | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | diffutils | 1:3.12-1ubuntu0.1 | USN-8692-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | diffutils | 1:3.10-1ubuntu0.1 | USN-8692-1 |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | diffutils | 1:3.8-0ubuntu2.1 | USN-8692-1 |
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS | diffutils | 1:3.7-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 | USN-8692-1 |
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | diffutils | 1:3.6-1ubuntu0.1~esm1 | USN-8692-1 |
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | diffutils | 1:3.3-3ubuntu0.1~esm1 | USN-8692-1 |
| Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS | diffutils | 1:3.3-1ubuntu0.1~esm1 | USN-8692-1 |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Hardened Images 1 | diffutils | 3.12-6.1.hum1 | RHSA-2026:45327 |
Advisories 2
- RHSA-2026:45327 Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs Security Update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Sep 8, 2026
- USN-8692-1 diffutils vulnerability Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Aug 31, 2026
References
- https://cert.pl/en/posts/2026/07/CVE-2026-53910 third-party-advisory
- https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/ product
- https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/commit/?id=73ed7ce85cc78effb94daf028c9af6b4e5252e50 patch
- https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/commit/?id=9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815 patch