CVE-2026-56289

Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition 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 denial of service (DoS) due to improper validation of hunk (single block of changes in diff) line offsets in unified-diff input. A specially crafted patch can specify an extremely large line number, causing the application to enter an effectively infinite processing loop while attempting to locate the requested position.
This results in excessive CPU consumption and prevents the process from completing.
An attacker can trigger this behavior by supplying a malicious patch file, causing the utility to become unresponsive and require manual termination.



This issue has been fixed in the commit faba04ef4f2b410257f76c1b9dc85e350929c4b9

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 denial of service (DoS) due to improper validation of hunk (single block of changes in diff) line offsets in unified-diff input. A specially crafted patch can specify an extremely large line number, causing the application to enter an effectively infinite processing loop while attempting to locate the requested position. This results in excessive CPU consumption and prevents the process from completing. An attacker can trigger this behavior by supplying a malicious patch file, causing the utility to become unresponsive and require manual termination. This issue has been fixed in the commit faba04ef4f2b410257f76c1b9dc85e350929c4b9
Title Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition in GNU patch
Weaknesses CWE-835
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:L'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
CERT-PL
Published
Updated
Jul 9, 2026, 12:21 PM
Reserved
Jun 20, 2026, 10:58 AM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Jul 9, 2026, 11:16 AM
Modified
Oct 25, 2026, 5:10 PM