CVE-2026-39316: CWE-416: Use After Free in OpenPrinting cups
A use-after-free vulnerability exists in OpenPrinting CUPS versions 2. 4. 16 and earlier within the CUPS scheduler when temporary printers are automatically deleted. The vulnerability arises because subscriptions referencing the printer are not expired before the printer is deleted, leaving dangling pointers that are later dereferenced. This can cause the cupsd daemon to crash, resulting in denial of service. With advanced heap manipulation, this flaw could potentially be exploited for code execution.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
OpenPrinting CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) versions up to 2.4.16 contain a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in the scheduler component. Specifically, the function cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters() calls cupsdDeletePrinter() without first expiring subscriptions that reference the printer. This leaves the subscription's destination pointer referencing freed memory, which is later dereferenced at multiple points, causing a crash of the cupsd daemon. Although the CVSS score is 4.0 (medium severity) and the primary impact is denial of service, heap grooming techniques could enable exploitation leading to arbitrary code execution.
Potential Impact
The vulnerability causes the cupsd daemon to crash, resulting in denial of service on affected systems running vulnerable versions of CUPS. There is no direct confidentiality or integrity impact reported. While no known exploits are currently in the wild, the flaw could be leveraged for code execution with sophisticated heap manipulation.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. No official fix or patch links are currently provided. Until a patch is available, consider minimizing exposure by restricting access to the CUPS scheduler and monitoring for crashes. Avoid running vulnerable versions in sensitive environments if possible.
CVE-2026-39316: CWE-416: Use After Free in OpenPrinting cups
Description
A use-after-free vulnerability exists in OpenPrinting CUPS versions 2. 4. 16 and earlier within the CUPS scheduler when temporary printers are automatically deleted. The vulnerability arises because subscriptions referencing the printer are not expired before the printer is deleted, leaving dangling pointers that are later dereferenced. This can cause the cupsd daemon to crash, resulting in denial of service. With advanced heap manipulation, this flaw could potentially be exploited for code execution.
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
OpenPrinting CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) versions up to 2.4.16 contain a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in the scheduler component. Specifically, the function cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters() calls cupsdDeletePrinter() without first expiring subscriptions that reference the printer. This leaves the subscription's destination pointer referencing freed memory, which is later dereferenced at multiple points, causing a crash of the cupsd daemon. Although the CVSS score is 4.0 (medium severity) and the primary impact is denial of service, heap grooming techniques could enable exploitation leading to arbitrary code execution.
Potential Impact
The vulnerability causes the cupsd daemon to crash, resulting in denial of service on affected systems running vulnerable versions of CUPS. There is no direct confidentiality or integrity impact reported. While no known exploits are currently in the wild, the flaw could be leveraged for code execution with sophisticated heap manipulation.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. No official fix or patch links are currently provided. Until a patch is available, consider minimizing exposure by restricting access to the CUPS scheduler and monitoring for crashes. Avoid running vulnerable versions in sensitive environments if possible.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- GitHub_M
- Date Reserved
- 2026-04-06T19:31:07.266Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- null
Threat ID: 69d53bddaaed68159a38be0c
Added to database: 4/7/2026, 5:16:13 PM
Last enriched: 4/7/2026, 5:32:00 PM
Last updated: 4/7/2026, 6:44:43 PM
Views: 6
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