Medium severity · published Aug 13, 2026
CVE-2026-53798
rsync < 3.5.0 Privilege Confusion via name-converter uid/gid mapping
5.3
CVSS
0.4%
EPSS
No
On KEV
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.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.4% · higher than 37% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
RS
rsync · RsyncProject
through 3.4.4 · source: vendor, NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53798
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53798
Product
https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/releases/tag/v3.5.0
Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/security/advisories/GHSA-hx7p-3gvv-pqgv
Release Notes
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/rsync-privilege-confusion-via-name-converter-uid-gid-mapping
More from rsync
9.1
CVE-2026-53791
rsync < 3.5.0 Daemon IP Spoofing via PROXY Protocol Header
8.2
CVE-2026-70456
rsync 3.0.1 < 3.5.0 Heap Out-of-Bounds Write via read_args()
8.2
CVE-2026-70457
rsync 3.2.3 < 3.5.0 Out-of-Bounds Write via parse_size_arg()
8.2
CVE-2026-70458
rsync 3.0.0 < 3.5.0 Out-of-Bounds Write via FLAG_HLINKED Handling
8.2
CVE-2026-70461
rsync 3.2.5 < 3.5.0 Heap Out-of-Bounds Write via files-from Entry