High [CVE-2026-77658] stack buffer overflow in Bus object via unvalidated handle count in project files
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-77658.
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Summary
A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the Dia diagram editor when processing Network Bus objects from Dia XML project files.
In objects/network/bus.c, bus_load() reads the number of bus handles from the file attribute "bus_handles" using attribute_num_data() without validating an upper bound: bus->num_handles = attribute_num_data(attr); When a bus handle is subsequently moved, bus_handle_moved() allocates two temporary arrays on the stack: parallel = (real *)g_alloca(num_handles * sizeof(real)); perp = (real *)g_alloca(num_handles * sizeof(real)); Because num_handles is fully attacker-controlled via the project file, sufficiently large values (for example 262144 or higher) cause g_alloca() to consume more stack space than the default thread stack limit (typically 8 MB on Linux), resulting in stack overflow, SIGSEGV, and potential stack frame / return-address corruption.
An attacker can embed a Bus object with an excessive bus_handles count in a malicious.dia file. Exploitation requires the victim to open the file in Dia (file dialog, command line, or file association) and trigger handle manipulation (moving a bus handle), which exercises the vulnerable code path.
The identical g_alloca pattern is present in objects/Misc/tree.c (copied from bus.c) and is likely vulnerable to the same class of attack via Tree objects.
- 0.98.0
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- Do not open untrusted Dia project (.dia) files with Dia until a fixed version is installed. There is no configuration-based workaround.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
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