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CVE-2026-56289

5.5 · MEDIUM

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.

Published Jul 9, 2026CWE-835EPSS 0.11%

Overview

CVE-2026-56289 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on July 9, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.

Technical 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

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-56289?

CVE-2026-56289 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on July 9, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-56289?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.5, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2026-56289?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2026-56289?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2026-56289 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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