---
id: CVE-2026-88340
title: >-
  An invalid pointer release vulnerability exists in YARA 4.5.8 during
  deserialization of compiled .yrc rule files
summary: >-
  An invalid pointer release vulnerability exists in YARA 4.5.8 during
  deserialization of compiled .yrc rule files. The vulnerability is caused by
  insufficient validation of external-variable pointers, which may lead to
  invalid free in yr_…
severity: high
cvss: 7.6
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-763
published: '2026-09-22'
updated: '2026-09-25'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-25T20:17:47.427'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-88340'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/VirusTotal/yara/issues/2239'
    label: cve@mitre.org
  - url: 'https://github.com/VirusTotal/yara/pull/2244'
    label: cve@mitre.org
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/VirusTotal/yara/pull/2244/changes/8d7bef643ee5fa2381e235bcedf80170a6b00d3b
    label: cve@mitre.org
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00167
epssPercentile: 0.05265
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-25T19:47:43.768045Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-09-22T20:10:15.098Z'
---

## Overview

An invalid pointer release vulnerability exists in YARA 4.5.8 during deserialization of compiled .yrc rule files. The vulnerability is caused by insufficient validation of external-variable pointers, which may lead to invalid free in yr_rules_destroy() or wild pointer access in yr_object_create(). An attacker can provide a specially crafted .yrc file that causes memory corruption and application crash.

## Remediation

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