Vulnerability in GNU Bison
CVE-2026-56390
GNU Bison improperly handles grammar‑defined output paths. Grammar directives such as %output and %header allow specifying file paths, which are accepted without restriction and override caller‑supplied output options. When processing attacker-supplied grammar, this behavior allows directing generated files to arbitrary writable locations on the filesystem, potentially overwriting existing files accessible to the Bison process. Maintainers of this project were notified about this vulnerability, and fixed the issue in commit 8d101c19d4d9aaedf83a448c925513742d4efcf0. However, they did not provide vulnerable version range. Version 3.8.2 was tested and confirmed as vulnerable, other versions were not tested but might also be vulnerable.
EPSS: 0.001 (2.5th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 6.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N.
Affected products
- Gnu Bison — versions 3.8.2
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- cvd@cert.pl (Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
- cvd@cert.pl (Product, patch)
- cvd@cert.pl (Patch, patch)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-56390?
- CVE-2026-56390 is a medium-severity vulnerability in GNU Bison, classified under External Control of File Name or Path. CVSS score: 6.3/10. Published 2026-07-29.
- How severe is CVE-2026-56390?
- Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.3 out of 10.