CVE-2026-39316 | CUPS has a use-after-free in `cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters` via dangling subscription pointer

Exp

OpenPrinting CUPS is an open source printing system for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. In versions 2.4.16 and prior, a use-after-free vulnerability exists in the CUPS scheduler (cupsd) when temporary printers are automatically deleted. cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters() in scheduler/printers.c calls cupsdDeletePrinter() without first expiring subscriptions that reference the printer, leaving cupsd_subscription_t.dest as a dangling pointer to freed heap memory. The dangling pointer is subsequently dereferenced at multiple code sites, causing a crash (denial of service) of the cupsd daemon. With heap grooming, this can be leveraged for code execution.

Published: 2026-04-07 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-39316 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.01%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: 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-2026-39316

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-39316

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 2026-04-08 0.01%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-39316

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
2.5 1.4 [email protected]
6.2 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.5 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-39316

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-39316

vendor priority summary link
alpine CVE-2026-39316: 1 source package rows (cups); 69 state rows across 6 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, 3.23-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 69. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2026-39316
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-39316 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (cups), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 3, resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-39316
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-39316
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-39316/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-39316 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (cups), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 6, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-39316

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-39316

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openprinting cups <= 2.4.16 cpe:2.3:a:openprinting:cups:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-39316

cvelogic Threat Intelligence