CVE-2026-53803
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.
Predictions
Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.
Mitigations
No mitigations published for this CVE yet.
The vendor-content worker queues fetches as references arrive (check back in a few minutes). Or — if you've already worked around this in production — publish your fix to the community-verified tier.
Propose a mitigation on Community Mitigations published via the community go through AI scoring + 2 human reviewers + 7-day silent objection window before landing here withsource_tier=community-verified.
OS impact
Debian Affected 5 releases
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| trixie | Affected | — |
| sid | Affected | — |
| forky | Affected | — |
| bullseye | Affected | — |
| bookworm | Affected | — |
SUSE Affected 1 release
| Version | Status | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| — | Affected | — |
References
- https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-53803.html
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-53803
- https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/releases/tag/v3.5.0
- https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/security/advisories/GHSA-g9f4-7q66-9582
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/rsync-symlink-following-arbitrary-file-overwrite
CWEs
CWE-59
Community-verified mitigations for this CVE will appear above when contributors publish them.
Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.