CVE-2026-115819

MEDIUM
Published Nov 11, 2026 Modified Nov 12, 2026 CWE-193

Description

Calling the wide scanf family of functions (swscanf, fwscanf, wscanf, vswscanf, vfwscanf and vwscanf) with a %s or %[ conversion without the 'l' length modifier in the GNU C Library version 2.2 to version 2.44 writes an extra null byte one past the end of the destination array when the converted multibyte string and its terminating null byte exactly fill that array. These conversions store each wide input character into the caller's char array as a multibyte sequence. The conversion ends with the sequence that returns to the initial shift state, which also stores the terminating null byte, and the functions then append a second null byte. A destination sized for the converted string and one terminator, as the C standard requires the caller to provide, is therefore written one byte past its end. The out-of-bounds byte is always a null byte, which may corrupt adjacent data or crash the process. An attacker who supplies the input can trigger the overflow with a string whose converted length exactly fills the destination. The narrow scanf functions, the %ls and %l[ conversions into a wchar_t array, and the 'a' and 'm' allocation modifiers are not affected, and storing a wide scanf conversion into a narrow char array is uncommon. This issue affects all architectures and ABIs supported by the GNU C Library.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

4.8
MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0026
Probability of exploitation
0.18%
Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-193 CWE-193

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-115819? +
Calling the wide scanf family of functions (swscanf, fwscanf, wscanf, vswscanf, vfwscanf and vwscanf) with a %s or %[ conversion without the 'l' length modifier in the GNU C Library version 2.2 to version 2.44 writes an extra null byte one past the end of the destination array when the converted multibyte string and its terminating null byte exactly fill that array. These conversions store each wide input character into the caller's char array as a multibyte sequence. The conversion ends with the sequence that returns to the initial shift state, which also stores the terminating null byte, and the functions then append a second null byte. A destination sized for the converted string and one terminator, as the C standard requires the caller to provide, is therefore written one byte past its end. The out-of-bounds byte is always a null byte, which may corrupt adjacent data or crash the process. An attacker who supplies the input can trigger the overflow with a string whose converted length exactly fills the destination. The narrow scanf functions, the %ls and %l[ conversions into a wchar_t array, and the 'a' and 'm' allocation modifiers are not affected, and storing a wide scanf conversion into a narrow char array is uncommon. This issue affects all architectures and ABIs supported by the GNU C Library. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 4.8 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2026-115819? +
CVE-2026-115819 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 4.8 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance. The EPSS score is 0.0026, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-115819? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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