Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-53803

high Nessus Plugin ID 335022

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- rsync before 3.5.0 contains a symlink following vulnerability that allows local attackers to overwrite arbitrary files by placing a symlink at a predictable output path such as --log-file, --write-batch, or daemon-mode log and statistics paths. Attackers can exploit rsync's failure to reject symlinks during ancillary file writes to redirect output to arbitrary filesystem locations, achieving local privilege escalation on installations where rsync runs with elevated privileges such as setuid or privileged daemon configurations. (CVE-2026-53803)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2026-53803

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-53803

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-53803

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 335022

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_53803.nasl

Version: 1.8

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/13/2026

Updated: 9/2/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.9

Percentile: 58.17

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Temporal Score: 6.1

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-53803

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 7.1

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.5

Threat Score: 5.9

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:26.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, cpe:/o:centos:centos:8, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:rsync, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:rsync-daemon, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:rsync-rrsync, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:rsync, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:rsync, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rsync-daemon, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rsync-rrsync, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rsync

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-53803