Severity by source
AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
The vulnerable ash interpreter processes locally supplied command input, so AV:L and PR:L are honest; impact is a crash only, giving A:H with C:N/I:N.
Primary rating from Vendor (mitre).
CVSS VectorVendor: mitre
Lifecycle Timeline
6DescriptionCVE.org
A heap overflow in the evalcommand() function (shell/ash.c) of Busybox v1.38.0 allows attackers to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) via supplying a crafted input.
AnalysisAI
Denial of service in BusyBox 1.38.0 stems from a heap-based buffer overflow in the evalcommand() routine of the ash shell interpreter (shell/ash.c), where crafted input corrupts heap memory and crashes the process. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, and the EPSS probability is low (0.16%, 6th percentile), indicating no observed exploitation activity. Impact is limited to availability - no confidentiality or integrity loss is claimed per the CVSS vector.
Technical ContextAI
BusyBox bundles dozens of stripped-down Unix utilities into a single binary and is a staple of embedded Linux, IoT firmware, container base images, and initramfs environments. The flaw lives in its 'ash' shell implementation (shell/ash.c), a lightweight POSIX-style command interpreter; specifically evalcommand(), the internal function that evaluates a parsed command node before execution. CWE-122 (heap-based buffer overflow) indicates the root cause is writing past the bounds of a dynamically allocated buffer on the heap - here triggered while the shell processes maliciously structured command input, corrupting heap metadata or adjacent allocations and crashing the interpreter.
RemediationAI
No vendor-released patched version is identified in the provided data, so a specific fixed release cannot be cited - track the BusyBox mailing list thread (https://lists.busybox.net/pipermail/busybox/2026-June/092354.html) and https://busybox.com for an upstream fix and upgrade to the first release above 1.38.0 that references CVE-2026-38755 once published. As compensating controls until a patch is available: avoid piping untrusted or network-sourced data into a BusyBox ash shell (route such input through a hardened, non-BusyBox interpreter or a validating parser instead); where a service invokes ash on attacker-influenced input, add strict input validation/length limits upstream, or replace the embedded ash usage with a full shell (e.g. dash/bash) if the platform allows - trade-off is a larger footprint. For appliances/IoT, restrict shell access to trusted local users only, accepting reduced remote-management convenience. Consult the NVD (https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-38755) and VulDB (https://vuldb.com/vuln/379430) entries for updated fix guidance.
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Same weakness CWE-122 – Heap-based Buffer Overflow
View allSame technique Buffer Overflow
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-44851
GHSA-jcqv-rj94-jmx3