CVE-2026-35377 PUBLISHED

uutils coreutils env Local Denial of Service via Improper Handling of Backslashes in Split-String Mode

Assigner: canonical
Reserved: 02.04.2026 Published: 22.04.2026 Updated: 22.04.2026

A logic error in the env utility of uutils coreutils causes a failure to correctly parse command-line arguments when utilizing the -S (split-string) option. In GNU env, backslashes within single quotes are treated literally (with the exceptions of \ and \'). However, the uutils implementation incorrectly attempts to validate these sequences, resulting in an "invalid sequence" error and an immediate process termination with an exit status of 125 when encountering valid but unrecognized sequences like \a or \x. This divergence from GNU behavior breaks compatibility for automated scripts and administrative workflows that rely on standard split-string semantics, leading to a local denial of service for those operations.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
CVSS Score: 3.3

Product Status

Vendor Uutils
Product coreutils
Versions Default: affected

Credits

  • Zellic finder

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-20: Improper Input Validation CWE

Impacts

  • CAPEC-153: Input Data Manipulation