CVE-2026-53803 rsync < 3.5.0 Symlink Following Arbitrary File Overwrite

What is CVE-2026-53803?

CVE-2026-53803 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in RsyncProject rsync, published on 13 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

rsync before 3.5.0 contains a symlink following vulnerability that allows local attackers to overwrite arbitrary files by placing a symlink at a predictable output path such as --log-file, --write-batch, or daemon-mode log and statistics paths. Attackers can exploit rsync's failure to reject symlinks during ancillary file writes to redirect output to arbitrary filesystem locations, achieving local privilege escalation on installations where rsync runs with elevated privileges such as setuid or privileged daemon configurations.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53803?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Samba Rsync.

How do I fix CVE-2026-53803?

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-2026-53803 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53803 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-2026-53803, AZL-95771, BELL-CVE-2026-53803, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53803, ECHO-4f46-4ddd-9dfd, GHSA-g9f4-7q66-9582 and 2 more.