CVE-2026-6791: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-ch73-g8qv-r6r5
CWE-121
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-6791 is a MODERATE security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when a stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2026-6791 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-6791
GHSA Identifier GHSA-ch73-g8qv-r6r5
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2026-6791

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2026-6791, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow, where a stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function). In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

When expanding paths that begin with a tilde (~) followed by a username, the internal parse_tilde function extracts the username to determine the user's home directory. The implementation allocates memory for this username directly on the stack using the strndupa macro. Because the size of this allocation was determined by the length of the user-supplied input without any bounds checks, passing an excessively long username e.g. thousands of characters, forces the thread to exhaust its stack space. Thus if an application passes untrusted, attacker-controlled input to the wordexp function, an attacker can trigger a stack clash.

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-6791?
CVE-2026-6791 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2026-6791?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-6791?
CVE-2026-6791 is classified under CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow (A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2026-6791?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-ch73-g8qv-r6r5",
  "modified" : "2026-08-10T21:32:03Z",
  "published" : "2026-08-10T21:32:03Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-6791" ],
  "details" : "When expanding paths that begin with a tilde (~) followed by a username, the internal parse_tilde function extracts the username to determine the user's home directory.  The implementation allocates memory for this username directly on the stack using the strndupa macro. Because the size of this allocation was determined by the length of the user-supplied input without any bounds checks, passing an excessively long username e.g. thousands of characters, forces the thread to exhaust its stack space. Thus if an application passes untrusted, attacker-controlled input to the wordexp function, an attacker can trigger a stack clash.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:L/SA:H/E:U/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-6791"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=34091"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-121" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-08-10T19:17:30Z"
  }
}