CVE-2026-56288

NULL Pointer Dereference in GNU patch

Published Jul 9, 2026 CVSS 4.0 · 4.6 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
GNU patch is vulnerable to a NULL pointer dereference when processing a specially crafted unified-diff patch file. Improper handling of consecutive end-of-file newline markers can corrupt internal hunk (single block of changes in diff) data structures, causing the application to pass a NULL pointer to fwrite() during patch processing.
An attacker can trigger this condition with a malicious patch file, causing the utility to crash and resulting in a denial of service.



This issue has been fixed in the commit e6d6a4e021660679d7fc9150f981d4920f722313

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Gnu
Gnu patch
Vendors & Products Gnu
Gnu patch
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description GNU patch is vulnerable to a NULL pointer dereference when processing a specially crafted unified-diff patch file. Improper handling of consecutive end-of-file newline markers can corrupt internal hunk (single block of changes in diff) data structures, causing the application to pass a NULL pointer to fwrite() during patch processing. An attacker can trigger this condition with a malicious patch file, causing the utility to crash and resulting in a denial of service. This issue has been fixed in the commit e6d6a4e021660679d7fc9150f981d4920f722313
Title NULL Pointer Dereference in GNU patch
Weaknesses CWE-476
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 4.6, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
CERT-PL
Published
Updated
Jul 9, 2026, 12:57 PM
Reserved
Jun 20, 2026, 10:58 AM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Jul 9, 2026, 11:16 AM
Modified
Oct 25, 2026, 5:10 PM