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TI-2026-29299 Aliases CVE-2026-40553GHSA-3j4c-7g5m-7rg5

Stack-based buffer overflow in gawk

Priority LOW 23CWE-121Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · Low · Low
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 7 fixed, 1 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

Buffer overflow vulnerability has been found in "extension/readdir.c" program file of gawk (ftype() routine). This issue could be used to crash the program and potentially to achieve code execution, although the latter has not been confirmed to be feasible. It affects gawk in versions 5.4.0 and below.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00291 21st percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Red Hat: 6 advisoriesRed Hat: 7 fixed, 1 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
GNUgawkup to 5.4.0—No fix listedCNA
  • gawk VendorGNU Affected up to 5.4.0 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:fossies:gawk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*up to 5.4.0VulnerableFossies
  • cpe:2.3:a:fossies:gawk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 5.4.0 Vulnerable ·Fossies

Remediation

Red Hat 6 advisories

  • RHSA-2026:82939 Released 2026-10-14 · Red Hat rating Important
    Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5.3 security update
    • Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5 registry.redhat.io/rhui5/cds-kubernetes-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhui5/cds-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhui5/haproxy-rhel9 +2
  • RHSA-2026:79357 Released 2026-10-08 · Red Hat rating Important
    Red Hat Cost Management On-Premise container image update
    • Red Hat Cost Management On-Premise 1 registry.redhat.io/costmanagement/costmanagement-ui-rhel10
  • RHSA-2026:73512 Released 2026-09-29 · Red Hat rating Moderate
    gawk security update
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) gawk-all-langpacks-5.1.0-6.el9_8.1
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) gawk-5.1.0-6.el9_8.1
Show 3 more Red Hat advisories
  • RHSA-2026:73429 Released 2026-09-29 · Red Hat rating Moderate
    gawk security update
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) gawk-all-langpacks-5.3.0-6.el10_2.1
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) gawk-5.3.0-6.el10_2.1
  • RHSA-2026:49661 Released 2026-08-03 · Red Hat rating Moderate
    Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs Security Update
    • Red Hat Hardened Images gawk-5.4.1-1.hum1@aarch64, gawk-5.4.1-1.hum1@src, gawk-5.4.1-1.hum1@x86_64 +6
  • RHSA-2026:40041 Released 2026-07-15 · Red Hat rating Moderate
    Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs Security Update
    • Red Hat Hardened Images gawk-5.4.0-3.1.hum1@aarch64, gawk-5.4.0-3.1.hum1@src, gawk-5.4.0-3.1.hum1@x86_64 +6

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Cost Management On-Premise 1Fixed RHSA-2026:79357
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10)Fixed RHSA-2026:73429
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9)Fixed RHSA-2026:73512
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10)Fixed RHSA-2026:73429
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9)Fixed RHSA-2026:73512
Red Hat Hardened ImagesFixed RHSA-2026:40041, RHSA-2026:49661
Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5Fixed RHSA-2026:82939
Not affected: 5 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-40553
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-3j4c-7g5m-7rg5
  3. 2026-10-09 Fix available: RHSA-2026:79357 · Red Hat
  4. 2026-10-09 Fix available: Red Hat Cost Management On-Premise 1 · Red Hat
  5. 2026-10-16 Fix available: RHSA-2026:82939 · Red Hat
  6. 2026-10-16 Fix available: Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5 · Red Hat
  7. 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  8. 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat

References

Patch 1

Advisory 1

  • TI-2026-19388 telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root"… KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2014-05975 GNU Bash through 4.3 bash43-025 processes trailing strings after certain malformed… KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2014-05157 GNU Bash through 4.3 processes trailing strings after function definitions in the values… KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2014-05164 GNU Bash through 4.3 bash43-026 does not properly parse function definitions in the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2023-04522 Glibc: buffer overflow in ld.so leading to privilege escalation KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 7.8
  • TI-2009-03392 The TLS protocol, and the SSL protocol 3.0 and possibly earlier, as used in Microsoft… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
See all 1272 →

Sources

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