rsync < 3.5.0 Path Confinement Bypass via /./ Boundary Marker in Chroot Mode
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a path confinement bypass vulnerability that allows remote clients to escape the intended inner-module root confinement by constructing paths that resolve outside the chroot boundary when the module root contains a /./ boundary marker. Attackers can exploit improper handling of the /./ notation or forge delta-basis transfers referencing xname paths that cross the /./ boundary to gain unauthorized read or write access to files outside the module's subtree.
rsync < 3.5.0 Out-of-Bounds Read via Zero-Length Checksum Block
rsync before 3.5.0 contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the sender-side block matching logic that allows a malicious receiver to trigger memory access before the start of an allocated buffer by sending a crafted checksum block with a length of zero. Attackers can send a specially crafted checksum set containing a zero-length block to cause a negative offset calculation during delta computation, resulting in an out-of-bounds read of file data buffer memory on the sender side.
rsync < 3.5.0 Daemon IP Spoofing via PROXY Protocol Header
rsync daemon before 3.5.0 contains an IP address spoofing vulnerability that allows unauthenticated remote attackers to bypass IP-based access controls by sending a crafted PROXY protocol header with a forged source address. Attackers who can connect directly to the rsync daemon can inject a spoofed source IP in the PROXY protocol header to circumvent hosts allow/deny rules, gaining unauthorized access that would otherwise be blocked based on their real source address.
rsync < 3.5.0 Command Injection via Multiple Code Paths
rsync before 3.5.0 contains multiple command and argument injection vulnerabilities that allow attackers to execute arbitrary commands by supplying malicious input through several code paths, including the RSYNC_CONNECT_PROG environment variable, daemon hooks, the rsync-ssl wrapper, and remote-shell command newline injection. Attackers can inject shell metacharacters or newline characters into unsanitized user-supplied values such as hostnames and hostspecs to execute arbitrary commands under the privileges of the rsync process or the invoking user.
rsync < 3.5.0 Arbitrary File Deletion via Malicious File List
rsync before 3.5.0 contains an improper path handling vulnerability that allows a malicious sender to expand the scope of --delete operations beyond the intended destination subtree by sending a crafted file list that causes rsync to reclassify implied parent directory entries or treat synthetic paths as the transfer root. Attackers can exploit multiple variants including implied parent reclassification, synthetic root path construction, legacy protocol behavior below version 30, and non-directory root handling to cause the receiver to delete files outside the authorized destination directory.
rsync < 3.5.0 Newline Injection via name-converter uid/gid mapping
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a newline injection vulnerability in the name-converter uid/gid mapping interface that allows local attackers to forge protocol messages by creating user or group names containing newline characters. Attackers can inject malicious newline characters into names communicated over the pipe-based line-oriented protocol to cause the rsync daemon to process attacker-influenced data as legitimate protocol input, corrupting uid/gid mapping logic.
rsync < 3.5.0 Privilege Confusion via name-converter uid/gid mapping
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a privilege confusion vulnerability in the name-converter subprocess uid/gid mapping that allows local attackers to cause transferred files to be owned by root by influencing name-converter responses to return empty values. When the name-converter subprocess returns an empty response for a uid or gid lookup, rsync incorrectly interprets it as a successful resolution to uid/gid 0 (root) rather than a lookup failure, and if the name-converter also signals fake super-user status, rsync proceeds with root ownership assignments for transferred files.
rsync < 3.5.0 Filter Rule Bypass via --filter Merge Directive
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a filter rule bypass vulnerability that allows authenticated clients to override module-level filter restrictions by supplying malicious --filter merge file directives. Attackers can inject client-side merge file directives during filter evaluation to introduce rules that supersede daemon module-level restrictions, gaining access to files the module filter was intended to exclude.
rsync < 3.5.0 Path Traversal Write Escape via --relative Mode
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows a malicious sender to write files outside the intended destination directory tree by crafting relative paths with symlink components in --relative mode. The make_path() function follows symlinks pointing outside the destination tree while creating intermediate directories without verifying that created paths remain within the destination boundary, enabling arbitrary file writes on the receiver's filesystem.
rsync < 3.5.0 Path Traversal via Symlink Module Root
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows remote clients to access files outside the intended module root when use chroot is disabled and the module root path or a component of it is a symlink. The daemon calls chdir() to the module root at session initialization without resolving symlinks via realpath() or equivalent, causing subsequent relative-path operations to reference files relative to the symlink target rather than the intended module root, enabling unauthorized file access.
rsync < 3.5.0 TOCTOU Race Condition Directory Escape via rrsync
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability in the rrsync restricted shell wrapper that allows authenticated clients to escape enforced directory restrictions by substituting a symlink for a path component after validation but before transfer processing. Attackers can additionally leverage unrestricted flags such as --copy-unsafe-links, -D, and --log-file through rrsync to read or write files outside the permitted directory subtree.
rsync < 3.5.0 Symlink Following Arbitrary File Overwrite
rsync before 3.5.0 contains a symlink following vulnerability that allows local attackers to overwrite arbitrary files by placing a symlink at a predictable output path such as --log-file, --write-batch, or daemon-mode log and statistics paths. Attackers can exploit rsync's failure to reject symlinks during ancillary file writes to redirect output to arbitrary filesystem locations, achieving local privilege escalation on installations where rsync runs with elevated privileges such as setuid or privileged daemon configurations.
rsync < 3.5.0 Arbitrary File Read via Symlink Following
rsync before 3.5.0 contains an arbitrary file read vulnerability that allows attackers to read files accessible to the rsync daemon process by exploiting symlink following in input configuration file handling including --files-from, --password-file, and filter merge files. Attackers can place a symlink at a predictable --files-from or --password-file path, or supply a --files-from path that escapes the daemon module root, to read arbitrary files accessible to the rsync process.
Rsync versions before 3.4.3 contain a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in daemon file handling that allows attackers to redirect file writes outside intended directories by replacing parent directory components with symbolic links. Attackers with write access to a module path can exploit this race condition to create or overwrite arbitrary files, potentially modifying sensitive system files and achieving privilege escalation when the daemon runs with elevated privileges. This vulnerability can only be triggered if the chroot setting is false.
Rsync < 3.4.3 Authorization Bypass via Hostname Resolution
Rsync version 3.4.2 and prior contain an authorization bypass vulnerability in the rsync daemon's hostname-based access control list enforcement when configured with chroot. Attackers can bypass hostname-based deny rules by controlling the PTR record for their source IP address, allowing connections from hostnames that administrators intended to deny when reverse DNS resolution fails and defaults to UNKNOWN.
Rsync < 3.4.3 Integer Overflow Information Disclosure
Rsync version 3.4.2 and prior contain an integer overflow vulnerability in the compressed-token decoder where a 32-bit signed counter is not checked for overflow, allowing a malicious sender to trigger an overflow that causes the receiver process to read and return data from outside the intended buffer bounds. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability to disclose process memory contents including environment variables, passwords, heap and stack data, and library memory pointers, significantly reducing ASLR effectiveness and facilitating further exploitation.
Rsync < 3.4.3 Symlink Race Condition via Path-Based Syscalls
Rsync version 3.4.2 and prior contain symlink race condition vulnerabilities in path-based system calls including chmod, lchown, utimes, rename, unlink, mkdir, symlink, mknod, link, rmdir, and lstat that allow local attackers to redirect operations to files outside the exported rsync module. Attackers with local filesystem access can exploit the timing window between path resolution and syscall execution by swapping symlinks to apply sender-supplied permissions, ownership, timestamps, or filenames to arbitrary files outside the intended module boundary on rsync daemons configured with 'use chroot = no'.
Rsync < 3.4.3 Out-of-Bounds Array Read via recv_files()
Rsync version 3.4.2 and prior contain a receiver-side out-of-bounds array read vulnerability in recv_files() in receiver.c that allows a malicious rsync server to crash the rsync client process. Attackers can exploit the vulnerability by setting CF_INC_RECURSE in compatibility flags and sending a specially crafted file list where the first sorted entry is not the leading dot directory, followed by a transfer record with ndx=0 and an iflag word without ITEM_TRANSFER, causing the receiver to read 8 bytes before the allocated pointer array and dereference an invalid pointer at an unmapped address, resulting in a deterministic SIGSEGV crash of th
Rsync < 3.4.3 Off-by-One Stack Write via HTTP Proxy
Rsync versions before 3.4.3 contain an off-by-one out-of-bounds stack write vulnerability in the establish_proxy_connection() function in socket.c that allows network attackers to corrupt stack memory by sending a malformed HTTP proxy response. Attackers can exploit this by positioning themselves between the client and proxy or controlling the proxy server to send a response line of 1023 or more bytes without a newline terminator, causing a null byte to be written to an out-of-bounds stack address when the RSYNC_PROXY environment variable is set.
In rsync 3.0.1 through 3.4.1, receive_xattr relies on an untrusted length value during a qsort call, leading to a receiver use-after-free. The victim must run rsync with -X (aka --xattrs). On Linux, many (but not all) common configurations are vulnerable. Non-Linux platforms are more widely vulnerable.