# CVE-2004-2093: Memory corruption in n/a

> Local attackers can trigger a buffer overflow via a long environment variable, causing a crash or potential code execution in rsync.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 19 May 2005
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2004-2093, GHSA-2h3h-37pp-x96w

## What is CVE-2004-2093?

CVE-2004-2093 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 19 May 2005. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Buffer overflow in the open_socket_out function in socket.c for rsync 2.5.7 and earlier allows local users to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a long RSYNC_PROXY environment variable.  NOTE: since rsync is not setuid, this issue does not provide any additional privileges beyond those that are already available to the user.  Therefore this issue may be REJECTED in the future.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2004-2093?


## How do I fix CVE-2004-2093?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2004-2093 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2004-2093 exists.

Public exploit code:

- rsync 2.5.7 - Local Stack Overflow / Local Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2004-2093 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2004-2093 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 19 May 2005. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2004-2093 exists.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2093/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2093/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2004-2093
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2004-2093
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2004-2093

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2093/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.