CVE-2026-53800

rsync < 3.5.0 Symlink Race Condition via --remove-source-files

State: Published
Severity: 5.7 Medium
Published: Aug 13, 2026
Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Reserved: Jun 10, 2026

Description

rsync before 3.5.0 contains a symlink race condition vulnerability in the --remove-source-files feature that allows attackers with symlink creation access to cause arbitrary file deletion. Attackers can atomically substitute a symlink for a source file between transfer completion and the unlink() call, causing rsync to delete the symlink target rather than the intended source file.

Scores

CVSS	Score	Vector	Source
4.0	5.7 Medium	CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N	VulnCheck
3.1	4.7 Medium	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H	VulnCheck

Weaknesses

CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
CWE-367 Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition

Affected Products

Product	Versions
rsyncRsyncProject	3.4.4 and earlierAffected 3.5.0Not affected

References

GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-v3vw-pvpg-chwh)vendor-advisory
rsync 3.5.0 Release Notesrelease-notes
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/rsync-symlink-race-condition-via-remove-source-filesthird-party-advisory

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