CVE-2026-53801
MEDIUMCVE-2026-53801 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-59 vulnerability. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-53801 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a symlink race condition vulnerability in the sender's directory scanning logic that allows attackers to cause the sender to enumerate and transfer files…
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-53801.
Description
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a symlink race condition vulnerability in the sender's directory scanning logic that allows attackers to cause the sender to enumerate and transfer files outside the module root's intended subtree. Attackers who can create or manipulate symlinks in a path component of the scanned tree can replace a symlink with a directory entry pointing outside the module root between the lstat() call and the subsequent opendir() call, exposing files beyond the intended root in both daemon-mode and non-daemon sender-side scanning.
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for the affected component. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Remediation status
No patched version of the affected component has shipped for CVE-2026-53801 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-53801 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-53801. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-53801 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-53801 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.