CVE-2026-33491 | Zen-C has Stack-Based Buffer Overflow in Identifier Mangling

Exp

Zen C is a systems programming language that compiles to human-readable GNU C/C11. Prior to version 0.4.4, a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the Zen C compiler allows attackers to cause a compiler crash or potentially execute arbitrary code by providing a specially crafted Zen C source file (`.zc`) with excessively long struct, function, or trait identifiers. Users are advised to update to Zen C version v0.4.4 or later to receive a patch.

Published: 2026-03-26 Last update: 2026-05-01 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-33491 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.01%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-33491

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-33491

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-27 — 0.01% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-33491

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-33491

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-33491

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
zenc-lang zen_c < 0.4.4 cpe:2.3:a:zenc-lang:zen_c:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-33491

cvelogic Threat Intelligence