# CVE-2026-73480: gdu Terminal Injection via Unstripped Escape Sequences

> Attackers can inject terminal escape sequences via malicious filenames in gdu, enabling title spoofing or clipboard manipulation.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.8 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 24 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-73480, GHSA-8fjq-3x3v-5fgg, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-73480

## What is CVE-2026-73480?

CVE-2026-73480 is a medium-severity vulnerability in dundee gdu, published on 13 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

gdu fails to strip terminal escape sequences from directory and file names when printing paths after TUI exit. Attackers can craft malicious directory or file names containing escape sequences that are interpreted by the terminal, enabling title spoofing, clipboard manipulation, or other terminal-dependent effects.

Weakness: CWE-116 (Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-73480?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-73480?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-73480 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-73480 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-73480 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-73480 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-73480 is a medium-severity vulnerability in dundee gdu, published on 13 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-73480 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: dundee gdu. 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-2026-73480/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-73480/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-73480
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-73480
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-73480

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-73480/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.