# CVE-2026-102474: Dash: dash: heap out-of-bounds write in conv_escape via undersized unicode escape reservation

> A local attacker can trigger a heap out-of-bounds write in the Dash shell's printf builtin, potentially leading to code execution or privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **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:** 29 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 29 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-102474, GHSA-fgjp-hq6c-rfv8, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-102474, openSUSE-SU-2026:11980-1

## What is CVE-2026-102474?

CVE-2026-102474 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, published on 29 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in dash. The printf builtin reserves four bytes before converting a Unicode \u or \U escape, but the multi-byte token can need five or six bytes. A local user who can supply such an escape to dash printf or echo %b, including through dash -c and a positional argument, can write one or two bytes past that reservation.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-102474?


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `dash` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 0.5.13.5-1.1 |

## How do I fix CVE-2026-102474?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-102474 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-102474 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-102474 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-102474 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, published on 29 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-102474 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. 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-2026-102474/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-102474/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-102474
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-102474
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-102474

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-102474/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.