---
id: CVE-2026-53910
title: "diff3\_tool from GNU diffutils\_is vulnerable to a heap‑based buffer overflow due to multiple signed integer overflows in line‑mapping calculations"
summary: "diff3\_tool from GNU diffutils\_is vulnerable to a heap‑based buffer overflow due to multiple signed integer overflows in line‑mapping calculations. Incorrect arithmetic in mapping line ranges can result in corrupted values being used for …"
severity: none
cwe:
  - CWE-190
published: '2026-07-22'
updated: '2026-07-27'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53910'
references:
  - url: 'https://cert.pl/en/posts/2026/07/CVE-2026-53910'
    label: cvd@cert.pl
  - url: >-
      https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/commit/?id=73ed7ce85cc78effb94daf028c9af6b4e5252e50
    label: cvd@cert.pl
  - url: >-
      https://cgit.git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/commit/?id=9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815
    label: cvd@cert.pl
  - url: 'https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diffutils.git/'
    label: cvd@cert.pl
tags:
  - nvd
epss: 0.00332
epssPercentile: 0.2368
ingestedAt: '2026-07-27T12:18:02.469Z'
---

## Overview

diff3 tool from GNU diffutils is vulnerable to a heap‑based buffer overflow due to multiple signed integer overflows in line‑mapping calculations. Incorrect arithmetic in mapping line ranges can result in corrupted values being used for memory allocation and loop bounds.
When processing crafted diff output, these overflows may cause the application to allocate insufficient memory and subsequently perform out‑of‑bounds writes during internal processing. 
An attacker who can control the output of the diff program used by diff3 (e.g. via --diff-program pointing to a malicious script) can trigger out-of-bounds writes, resulting in a crash and potentially remote code execution depending on the environment.


This issue has been fixed in commit 9ff04d5b84743e331e80b589335a52c5480d1815 

NOTE:
The project maintainers claim that this is not a security issue. They state that the worst outcome this issue can cause is a crash of diff and that it cannot be used to escalate privileges.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.