Vulnerability · Published Aug 13, 2026 · Assigned by VulnCheck
CVE-2026-53798rsync < 3.5.0 Privilege Confusion via name-converter uid/gid mapping
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 0.4% (higher than 37% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a privilege confusion vulnerability in the name-converter subprocess uid/gid mapping that allows local attackers to cause transferred files to be owned by root by influencing name-converter responses to return empty values. When the name-converter subprocess returns an empty response for a uid or gid lookup, rsync incorrectly interprets it as a successful resolution to uid/gid 0 (root) rather than a lookup failure, and if the name-converter also signals fake super-user status, rsync proceeds with root ownership assignments for transferred files.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine:v3.21 | rsync | 3.5.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Alpine:v3.22 | rsync | 3.5.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Alpine:v3.23 | rsync | 3.5.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Alpine:v3.24 | rsync | 3.5.0-r0 | ALPINE-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Debian:12 | rsync | no fix listed | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Debian:13 | rsync | 3.5.0+ds1-0+deb13u1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Debian:14 | rsync | 3.5.0+ds1-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | rsync | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | rsync | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Ubuntu:26.04:LTS | rsync | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53798 |
| Ubuntu:26.10 | rsync | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53798 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| RsyncProject | rsync | 0 – through 3.4.4 |
Weakness: CWE-704 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
References
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-hx7p-3gvv-pqgv) vendor-advisory
- rsync 3.5.0 Release Notes release-notes
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/rsync-privilege-confusion-via-name-converter-uid-gid-mapping third-party-advisory