Bug 2499657 (CVE-2026-40553)

Summary: CVE-2026-40553 gawk: Gawk: Buffer overflow in ftype() routine may lead to code execution or denial of service
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in gawk. A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the `ftype()` routine, located in the `extension/readdir.c` program file. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to crash the program, resulting in a denial of service. It may also potentially lead to arbitrary code execution, though this has not been definitively confirmed.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Bug Depends On: 2510603    
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-07-13 13:01:54 UTC
Buffer overflow vulnerability has been found in "extension/readdir.c" program file of gawk (ftype() routine). This issue could be used to crash the program and potentially to achieve code execution, although the latter has not been confirmed to be feasible. It affects gawk in versions 5.4.0 and below.