Bug 2515388 (CVE-2026-53794)

Summary: CVE-2026-53794 rsync: rsync: Denial of Service via --max-alloc=0 logic error
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: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in rsync. A logic error in the `--max-alloc` handling allows a remote attacker to disable memory allocation sanity checks by setting `--max-alloc=0`. This can lead to the receiver attempting unbounded memory allocations, potentially exhausting available memory and causing a denial of service.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Bug Depends On: 2520951    
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-13 15:51:13 UTC
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a logic error in --max-alloc handling that allows a sender or configuration setting --max-alloc=0 to disable allocation sanity checks entirely rather than enforcing a zero-byte cap. Attackers can exploit this flaw to cause the receiver to attempt unbounded memory allocations for file list and data structures, potentially exhausting available memory and causing a denial of service.