Vulnerability · Published Apr 7, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-39316CUPS has a use-after-free in `cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters` via dangling subscription pointer
Medium 4.0
In plain English
A medium-severity use-after-free in cups from OpenPrinting. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 8% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
OpenPrinting CUPS is an open source printing system for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. In versions 2.4.16 and prior, a use-after-free vulnerability exists in the CUPS scheduler (cupsd) when temporary printers are automatically deleted. cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters() in scheduler/printers.c calls cupsdDeletePrinter() without first expiring subscriptions that reference the printer, leaving cupsd_subscription_t.dest as a dangling pointer to freed heap memory. The dangling pointer is subsequently dereferenced at multiple code sites, causing a crash (denial of service) of the cupsd daemon. With heap grooming, this can be leveraged for code execution.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine:v3.20 | cups | 2.4.18-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Alpine:v3.21 | cups | 2.4.18-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Alpine:v3.22 | cups | 2.4.18-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Alpine:v3.23 | cups | 2.4.18-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Alpine:v3.24 | cups | 2.4.18-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Debian:12 | cups | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Debian:13 | cups | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Debian:14 | cups | 2.4.17-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | cups | 2.4.1op1-1ubuntu4.20 | USN-8405-1 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | cups | 2.4.1op1-1ubuntu4.20 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | cups | 2.4.7-1.2ubuntu7.13 | USN-8405-1 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | cups | 2.4.7-1.2ubuntu7.13 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | cups | 2.4.12-0ubuntu3.9 | USN-8405-1 |
| Ubuntu:25.10 | cups | 2.4.12-0ubuntu3.9 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | cups | 2.4.16-1ubuntu1.2 | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-39316 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | cups | 2.4.16-1ubuntu1.2 | USN-8405-1 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| OpenPrinting | cups | <= 2.4.16 |
Weakness: CWE-416 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
References
- https://github.com/OpenPrinting/cups/security/advisories/GHSA-pjv5-prqp-46rg x_refsource_CONFIRM