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.
Fix
Patch, vendor advisory and mitigation references on NVD 1
Every line above is quoted from NVD, CISA, Microsoft, the vendor's own advisory or DISA; nothing is generated.
Change history 1
- First seenCVSS 6.9 · sambaNVD modified 2026-10-23 18:10
Affected (CPE criteria) 1
cpe:2.3:a:samba:rsync:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
References 3
- https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/releases/tag/v3.5.0 Product, Release Notes
- https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/security/advisories/GHSA-hx7p-3gvv-pqgv Vendor Advisory
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/rsync-privilege-confusion-via-name-converter-uid-gid-mapping Release Notes, Third Party Advisory