CVE-2026-109349

Description

A flaw was found in gix-pack. A malicious remote server can trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) by returning a crafted pack header declaring version 3 during a repository clone or fetch operation. Because the header decoder triggers an internal assertion failure when encountering this version, the client application crashes immediately, terminating the operation.

Statement

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity because exploitation results solely in a denial of service by terminating the client process, without compromising system integrity or exposing confidential data. Triggering the crash requires user interaction, specifically initiating a fetch or clone operation against an untrusted or compromised remote Git server. Within Red Hat environments, bundled utilities embedding this library are primarily utilized as developer tooling and command-line operations, restricting the failure impact to the active transaction.

Mitigation

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score6.5N/A6.5
Attack VectorNetworkN/ANetwork
Attack ComplexityLowN/ALow
Privileges RequiredNoneN/ANone
User InteractionRequiredN/ARequired
ScopeUnchangedN/AUnchanged
ConfidentialityNoneN/ANone
Integrity ImpactNoneN/ANone
Availability ImpactHighN/AHigh

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

While assertion is good for catching logic errors and reducing the chances of reaching more serious vulnerability conditions, an attacker can still cause a denial of service if they can trigger an assert statement, and if the scope of the assert() extends beyond the attacker's own session. For example, if a server handles multiple simultaneous connections, if an assert() occurs in one single connection that causes all other connections to be dropped, this could be a significant denial of service.

Frequently Asked Questions

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