Description
A logic error in the expr utility of uutils coreutils causes the program to evaluate parenthesized subexpressions during the parsing phase rather than at the execution phase. This implementation flaw prevents the utility from performing proper short-circuiting for logical OR (|) and AND (&) operations. As a result, arithmetic errors (such as division by zero) occurring within "dead" branches, branches that should be ignored due to short-circuiting, are raised as fatal errors. This divergence from GNU expr behavior can cause guarded expressions within shell scripts to fail with hard errors instead of returning expected boolean results, leading to premature script termination and breaking GNU-compatible shell control flow.
Published: 2026-04-22
Score: 3.3 Low
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: Denial of Service
Action: Update
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Remediation

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Tracking

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Advisories
Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-5pv5-xh52-hvrp uutils coreutils has an Incorrect Short Circuit Evaluation Issue
History

Mon, 04 May 2026 19:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:uutils:coreutils:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:*

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 19:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Uutils
Uutils coreutils
Vendors & Products Uutils
Uutils coreutils

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A logic error in the expr utility of uutils coreutils causes the program to evaluate parenthesized subexpressions during the parsing phase rather than at the execution phase. This implementation flaw prevents the utility from performing proper short-circuiting for logical OR (|) and AND (&) operations. As a result, arithmetic errors (such as division by zero) occurring within "dead" branches, branches that should be ignored due to short-circuiting, are raised as fatal errors. This divergence from GNU expr behavior can cause guarded expressions within shell scripts to fail with hard errors instead of returning expected boolean results, leading to premature script termination and breaking GNU-compatible shell control flow.
Title uutils coreutils expr Local Denial of Service via Eager Evaluation of Parenthesized Subexpressions
Weaknesses CWE-768
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 3.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'}


Subscriptions

Uutils Coreutils
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: canonical

Published:

Updated: 2026-04-22T17:00:13.453Z

Reserved: 2026-04-02T12:58:56.089Z

Link: CVE-2026-35378

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-04-22T16:59:45.867Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2026-04-22T17:16:42.730

Modified: 2026-05-04T18:48:36.020

Link: CVE-2026-35378

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-04-28T15:30:34Z

Weaknesses