CVE-2026-53801 rsync < 3.5.0 Symlink Race Condition Directory Traversal

What is CVE-2026-53801?

CVE-2026-53801 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in RsyncProject rsync, published on 13 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

rsync before 3.5.0 contains a symlink race condition vulnerability in the sender's directory scanning logic that allows attackers to cause the sender to enumerate and transfer files outside the module root's intended subtree. Attackers who can create or manipulate symlinks in a path component of the scanned tree can replace a symlink with a directory entry pointing outside the module root between the lstat() call and the subsequent opendir() call, exposing files beyond the intended root in both daemon-mode and non-daemon sender-side scanning.

Weakness: CWE-59, CWE-367

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53801?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Samba Rsync.

How do I fix CVE-2026-53801?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2026-53801 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53801 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in RsyncProject rsync

• CVE-2017-15994 Security feature bypass in n/a Critical 9.8
• CVE-2026-53791 rsync < 3.5.0 Daemon IP Spoofing via PROXY Protocol Header Critical 9.1
• CVE-2026-70461 rsync 3.2.5 < 3.5.0 Heap Out-of-Bounds Write via files-from Entry High 8.8
• CVE-2026-70455 rsync 3.4.2 < 3.5.0 DoS via --zt Zstandard Compression Thread Exhaustion High 8.7
• CVE-2026-70463 rsync 3.1.0 < 3.5.0 Authorization Bypass via auth users Directive Parsing High 8.6

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2026-53801, AZL-95789, BELL-CVE-2026-53801, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53801, ECHO-67f1-7aad-51af, GHSA-mch3-qr4p-chgm and 1 more.