Duplicate Advisory: coreutils' comm utility silently corrupts data by performing lossy UTF-8 conversion on all output lines
### Duplicate Advisory This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-6gcw-w7cp-94g9. This link is maintained to preserve external references. ### Original Description The comm utility in uutils coreutils silently corrupts data by performing lossy UTF-8 conversion on all output lines. The implementation uses String::from_utf8_lossy(), which replaces invalid UTF-8 byte sequences with the Unicode replacement character (U+FFFD). This behavior differs from GNU comm, which processes raw bytes and preserves the original input. This results in corrupted output when the utility is used to compare binary files or files using non-UTF-8 legacy encodings.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The vulnerability in the uutils coreutils comm utility arises from its use of a lossy UTF-8 conversion method (String::from_utf8_lossy()) on all output lines. This causes silent data corruption by replacing invalid UTF-8 byte sequences with the Unicode replacement character, differing from the GNU comm utility's raw byte processing approach. This leads to corrupted output when the utility is used on binary files or files with legacy encodings that are not UTF-8. The advisory has been withdrawn as a duplicate of GHSA-6gcw-w7cp-94g9.
Potential Impact
The impact is limited to data integrity, specifically silent corruption of output data when using the comm utility on binary or non-UTF-8 encoded files. There is no confidentiality or availability impact. The corruption may cause incorrect results in file comparisons relying on this utility.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory GHSA-6gcw-w7cp-94g9 for current remediation guidance. No official fix or patch links are provided in this advisory. Users should avoid using the affected versions of the comm utility on binary or non-UTF-8 encoded files until a fix is confirmed.
Duplicate Advisory: coreutils' comm utility silently corrupts data by performing lossy UTF-8 conversion on all output lines
Description
### Duplicate Advisory This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-6gcw-w7cp-94g9. This link is maintained to preserve external references. ### Original Description The comm utility in uutils coreutils silently corrupts data by performing lossy UTF-8 conversion on all output lines. The implementation uses String::from_utf8_lossy(), which replaces invalid UTF-8 byte sequences with the Unicode replacement character (U+FFFD). This behavior differs from GNU comm, which processes raw bytes and preserves the original input. This results in corrupted output when the utility is used to compare binary files or files using non-UTF-8 legacy encodings.
CVSS v3.1
Score 3.3low
Affected software
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Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability in the uutils coreutils comm utility arises from its use of a lossy UTF-8 conversion method (String::from_utf8_lossy()) on all output lines. This causes silent data corruption by replacing invalid UTF-8 byte sequences with the Unicode replacement character, differing from the GNU comm utility's raw byte processing approach. This leads to corrupted output when the utility is used on binary files or files with legacy encodings that are not UTF-8. The advisory has been withdrawn as a duplicate of GHSA-6gcw-w7cp-94g9.
Potential Impact
The impact is limited to data integrity, specifically silent corruption of output data when using the comm utility on binary or non-UTF-8 encoded files. There is no confidentiality or availability impact. The corruption may cause incorrect results in file comparisons relying on this utility.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory GHSA-6gcw-w7cp-94g9 for current remediation guidance. No official fix or patch links are provided in this advisory. Users should avoid using the affected versions of the comm utility on binary or non-UTF-8 encoded files until a fix is confirmed.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- GHSA-hwhf-8p2f-45wr
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.4.0
- Aliases
- []
- Ecosystems
- ["crates.io"]
- Database Specific Severity
- LOW
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
Threat ID: 6a4c341b27e9c797195f854a
Added to database: 07/06/2026, 23:02:51 UTC
Last enriched: 07/06/2026, 23:19:22 UTC
Last updated: 07/31/2026, 15:20:48 UTC
Views: 83
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