CVE-2026-103658
Published: October 13, 2026Last modified: October 16, 2026
Description
GNU Aspell 0.60.8.2 (first vulnerable version is not known) contains a heap-based buffer overflow write (CWE-122) in its read-only dictionary loader. String::reserve() in common/string.hpp computes its capacity check with a signed int ((int)s + 1), so a requested size of 0x7FFFFFFF wraps negative and the backing buffer is never grown. ReadOnlyDict::load() in modules/speller/default/readonly_ws.cpp passes the unvalidated 32-bit size fields from a .rws dictionary header into this path, so a crafted .rws file with a valid endian marker (12345678) and an oversized length field (e.g. lang_name_size = 0x7FFFFFFF) causes attacker-controlled data to be written out of bounds past an undersized heap allocation. An attacker who induces a victim to load a malicious dictionary — for example via aspell dump master <file> — can corrupt heap memory, resulting in denial of service and potentially code execution. Fixed in b830b6e and will be fixed in release 0.60.8.3.
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score | 5.9 |
| Attack Vector | LOCAL |
| Attack complexity | LOW |
| Privileges required | NONE |
| User interaction | NONE |
| Scope | UNCHANGED |
| Confidentiality | LOW |
| Integrity impact | LOW |
| Availability impact | LOW |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L |
Status
| Product | Release | Package | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaquita Linux | 23 LTS | aspell | Vulnerable (0.60.8-r1) |
| 25 LTS | aspell | Vulnerable (0.60.8.1-r0) | |
| Stream | aspell | Vulnerable (0.60.8-r1) |