Vulnerability · Published Aug 13, 2026 · Assigned by VulnCheck
CVE-2026-53796rsync < 3.5.0 TOCTOU Race Condition via Destination Directory Handling
Medium 6.3
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 0.1% (higher than 3% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability in the non-daemon receiver's destination directory handling that allows an attacker who can manipulate destination path parent components to redirect file writes to unintended locations. Attackers can substitute a symlink for a component of the destination path between the path resolution and chdir() call, causing the receiver's working directory to be established outside the intended destination tree so that subsequent relative-path file writes land in unintended filesystem locations.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine:v3.21 | rsync | 3.5.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Alpine:v3.22 | rsync | 3.5.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Alpine:v3.23 | rsync | 3.5.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Alpine:v3.24 | rsync | 3.5.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Debian:12 | rsync | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Debian:13 | rsync | 3.5.0+ds1-0+deb13u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Debian:14 | rsync | 3.5.0+ds1-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | rsync | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | rsync | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | rsync | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53796 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | rsync | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53796 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| RsyncProject | rsync | 0 – through 3.4.4 |
Weakness: CWE-59, CWE-367 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
References
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-w75h-ccff-w53m) vendor-advisory
- rsync 3.5.0 Release Notes release-notes
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/rsync-toctou-race-condition-via-destination-directory-handling third-party-advisory