CVE-2026-35369: kill Denial of Service Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-p6rv-2qpm-fwvg
Share
CVSS 5.5
CWE-20 CWE-754
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-35369 is a MODERATE (CVSS 5.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-20: Improper Input Validation) affecting kill libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves 'kill -1' parsed as pid -1, sending sigterm to all processes (system crash / dos). Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.6.0.

CVE-2026-35369 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-35369
GHSA Identifier GHSA-p6rv-2qpm-fwvg
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 5.5
CWE Classification CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
Affected Product kill
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 5.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-35369

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

uu_kill fixed: 0.6.0 
Upgrade uu_kill to 0.6.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

inspect dependencies for uu_kill

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2026-35369, inspect your project dependencies for kill:

inspect dependencies for uu_kill

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of kill in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.6.0), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation, where the product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. In kill, 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

`kill -1` is incorrectly parsed as a positional `pid = -1`; combined with the default SIGTERM this calls `kill(-1, SIGTERM)`, signaling nearly every process the caller can see. GNU `kill` recognizes `-1`/`-9` as signals and reports "not enough arguments". ``` $ kill -1 # uutils: kill(-1, SIGTERM) -> mass termination / crash $ kill -1 # GNU: kill: not enough arguments ``` **Impact:** a user running `kill -1` mass-terminates processes, potentially crashing the system. Recommendation: parse `-N` as a signal number, and error with "not enough arguments" when no PID is given. **Remediation:** Acknowledged by Canonical; fixed in commit cae94028. --- _Reported by Zellic in the *uutils coreutils Program Security Assessment* (prepared for Canonical, Jan 20 2026), audited commit `3a07ffc5a9bd4c283e75afa548ba1f1957bad242`. Finding 3.70. Credit: Zellic._

CVE-2026-35369 Affected kill Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.6.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
uu_kill
 crates.io
< 0.6.0
0.6.0

References

GitHub Advisory / Wiki ADVISORY
https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/security/advisories/GHSA-p6rv-2qpm-fwvg
NVD — CVE-2026-35369 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-35369
kill Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/9700
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/commit/2d3aebce6712841bc08b9b94e9078be50a25fc10
kill Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/uutils/coreutils
kill Release RELEASE
https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/releases/tag/0.6.0

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-35369?
CVE-2026-35369 is a security vulnerability in kill involving 'kill -1' parsed as PID -1, sending SIGTERM to all processes (system crash / DoS) under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation.
Which kill versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.6.0 across affected packages: uu_kill.
What version fixes CVE-2026-35369?
Upgrading to 0.6.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is uu_kill affected?
Yes, uu_kill is affected in releases prior to 0.6.0. Upgrade your dependency to 0.6.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-35369?
CVE-2026-35369 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MODERATE) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-35369?
CVE-2026-35369 is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation (The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2026-35369?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for uu_kill'. 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
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-p6rv-2qpm-fwvg",
  "modified" : "2026-07-06T19:55:15Z",
  "published" : "2026-07-06T19:55:15Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-35369" ],
  "summary" : "kill: 'kill -1' parsed as PID -1, sending SIGTERM to all processes (system crash / DoS)",
  "details" : "`kill -1` is incorrectly parsed as a positional `pid = -1`; combined with the default SIGTERM this calls `kill(-1, SIGTERM)`, signaling nearly every process the caller can see. GNU `kill` recognizes `-1`/`-9` as signals and reports \"not enough arguments\".\n\n```\n$ kill -1        # uutils: kill(-1, SIGTERM) -> mass termination / crash\n$ kill -1        # GNU: kill: not enough arguments\n```\n\n**Impact:** a user running `kill -1` mass-terminates processes, potentially crashing the system. Recommendation: parse `-N` as a signal number, and error with \"not enough arguments\" when no PID is given.\n\n**Remediation:** Acknowledged by Canonical; fixed in commit cae94028.\n\n---\n_Reported by Zellic in the *uutils coreutils Program Security Assessment* (prepared for Canonical, Jan 20 2026), audited commit `3a07ffc5a9bd4c283e75afa548ba1f1957bad242`. Finding 3.70. Credit: Zellic._",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "uu_kill"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.6.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/security/advisories/GHSA-p6rv-2qpm-fwvg"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-35369"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/pull/9700"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/commit/2d3aebce6712841bc08b9b94e9078be50a25fc10"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/uutils/coreutils"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/uutils/coreutils/releases/tag/0.6.0"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-20", "CWE-754" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-07-06T19:55:15Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}