CVE-2026-53798

rsync < 3.5.0 Privilege Confusion via name-converter uid/gid mapping

MEDIUM
5.3
CVSS Score
Published: August 13, 2026 at 02:36 PM UTC
Updated: October 24, 2026 at 04:10 PM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsRsyncRsync

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Severity
MEDIUM5.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.4%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

rsync tbefore 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

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 3.5.0
Affected range stops below 3.5.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
0 ≤ v ≤ 3.4.4
Vendor states this is fixed in 3.5.0 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

5.3MEDIUMVulnCheck
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-704

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