CVE-2026-29518: RsyncProject rsync · Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
Affects RsyncProject rsyncSource CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.3 High : upgrade to 3.4.3 soon.
Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 4% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
- Patch
- Available – fixed in 3.4.3
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:NExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 20 May 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.
What to do
Upgrade rsync and rsyncproject/rsync to 3.4.3.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| RsyncProjectrsync | Affected
| Fixed in
|
GitHubrsyncproject/rsyncpkg:github/rsyncproject/rsyncOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in
|
GitHubrsyncpkg:github/rsyncOther threats | Affected
| Fixed in
|
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
AI-suggested
Red Hat has released updates rebasing rsync to version 3.4.4 that fix this TOCTOU race condition vulnerability. Users should apply the official security updates provided by Red Hat for their respective distributions to remediate this issue. Since the vulnerability only occurs when the daemon runs without chroot, enabling chroot can also mitigate the risk. Patch status is confirmed by Red Hat advisories linked in the vendor advisory URLs. No known exploits are reported in the wild at this time.
Description
Rsync versions before 3.4.3 contain a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in daemon file handling that allows attackers to redirect file writes outside intended directories by replacing parent directory components with symbolic links. Attackers with write access to a module path can exploit this race condition to create or overwrite arbitrary files, potentially modifying sensitive system files and achieving privilege escalation when the daemon runs with elevated privileges. This vulnerability can only be triggered if the chroot setting is false.
References
- github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/pull/895/changes/8471fdd1561049ef5f58df44a1811a50bd9a531d (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/releases/tag/v3.4.3 (opens in a new tab)
- michael.stapelberg.ch/posts/2026-05-24-minimal-memory-safe-go-rsync-vulns/ (opens in a new tab)
- vulncheck.com/advisories/rsync-toctou-race-condition-allows-symlink-based-arbitrary-file-write (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-29518 (opens in a new tab)
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2469055 (opens in a new tab)
- security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-29518.json (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26332 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26410 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:26408 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:29197 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:54769 (opens in a new tab)