USN-8692-1: GNU diffutils vulnerability

Publication date

31 August 2026

Overview

GNU diffutils could be made to crash if it received specially crafted input.


Packages

Details

It was discovered that GNU diffutils incorrectly handled certain integer
arithmetic when mapping line ranges in diff3. A local attacker could
possibly use this issue to cause diff3 to crash, resulting in a denial of
service.

It was discovered that GNU diffutils incorrectly handled certain integer
arithmetic when mapping line ranges in diff3. A local attacker could
possibly use this issue to cause diff3 to crash, resulting in a denial of
service.

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
26.04 LTS resolute diffutils –  1:3.12-1ubuntu0.1
24.04 LTS noble diffutils –  1:3.10-1ubuntu0.1
22.04 LTS jammy diffutils –  1:3.8-0ubuntu2.1
20.04 LTS focal diffutils –  1:3.7-3ubuntu0.1~esm1  
18.04 LTS bionic diffutils –  1:3.6-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  
16.04 LTS xenial diffutils –  1:3.3-3ubuntu0.1~esm1  
14.04 LTS trusty diffutils –  1:3.3-1ubuntu0.1~esm1  

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.


Have additional questions?

Talk to a member of the team ›