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Vulnerability · Published Aug 13, 2026 · Assigned by VulnCheck

CVE-2026-53794rsync < 3.5.0 Denial of Service via --max-alloc=0 Logic Error

Medium 5.3

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in rsync from RsyncProject. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.5% (higher than 43% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.3Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.5%top 56.6% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

rsync before 3.5.0 contains a logic error in --max-alloc handling that allows a sender or configuration setting --max-alloc=0 to disable allocation sanity checks entirely rather than enforcing a zero-byte cap. Attackers can exploit this flaw to cause the receiver to attempt unbounded memory allocations for file list and data structures, potentially exhausting available memory and causing a denial of service.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Alpine:v3.21rsync3.5.0-r0ALPINE-CVE-2026-53794
Alpine:v3.22rsync3.5.0-r0ALPINE-CVE-2026-53794
Alpine:v3.23rsync3.5.0-r0ALPINE-CVE-2026-53794
Alpine:v3.24rsync3.5.0-r0ALPINE-CVE-2026-53794
Debian:12rsyncno fix listedDEBIAN-CVE-2026-53794
Debian:13rsync3.5.0+ds1-0+deb13u1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53794
Debian:14rsync3.5.0+ds1-1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53794
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSrsyncno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-53794
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSrsyncno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-53794
Ubuntu:26.04:LTSrsyncno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-53794
Ubuntu:26.10rsyncno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-53794

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
RsyncProject rsync 0 – through 3.4.4

Weakness: CWE-1284 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

References