uutils coreutils has an Improper Input Validation Issue in its cut Utility

Description

A logic error in the cut utility of uutils coreutils causes the program to incorrectly interpret the literal two-byte string '' (two single quotes) as an empty delimiter. The implementation mistakenly maps this string to the NUL character for both the -d (delimiter) and --output-delimiter options. This vulnerability can lead to silent data corruption or logic errors in automated scripts and data pipelines that process strings containing these characters, as the utility may unintentionally split or join data on NUL bytes rather than the intended literal characters.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
medium
Advisory on GitHub
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Repository advisory
Source code
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Published (advisory)
2026-04-22 18:31:46 UTC
Updated
2026-04-30 18:06:30 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-04-30 18:06:30 UTC
NVD published
2026-04-22

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.02% 5.24%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
5.5 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
rust coreutils < 0.8.0 0.8.0

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence