Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessLure victim to attacker-controlled ZMODEM/YMODEM sender
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ExploitOffer file with metacharacter-laden name
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Executionlrztar pipe mode passes filename to popen()
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ImpactExecute arbitrary commands as receiving user
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization OS command sanitization, avoid shell exec
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires lrz to be invoked under a suffixed/alias name such as lrztar operating in pipe mode - procheader() only passes the filename to popen() in that mode, so a default plain-lrz invocation is not affected. The attacker must control the sending side of the ZMODEM/YMODEM transfer and supply a crafted filename containing shell metacharacters, and the victim must actively initiate or accept the transfer (UI:P). Limiting factors: the non-default lrztar/pipe invocation requirement (AT:P), the required victim interaction, and that injected commands run only with the privileges of the receiving user (SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - no built-in privilege escalation or impact on other systems). |
| Impact | The vendor-supplied CVSS 4.0 score is 7.7 (High), driven by a network vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), and full compromise of the vulnerable system (VC:H/VI:H/VA:H) via arbitrary command execution. However, three metrics materially temper real-world risk: AT:P indicates a specific attack requirement must hold (lrz must be invoked under a suffixed alias such as lrztar in pipe mode - a non-default configuration), UI:P requires the victim to initiate/accept the ZMODEM/YMODEM transfer, and SC:N/SI:N/SA:N confirm no scope change - code runs only as the receiving user with no inherent privilege escalation. No EPSS probability, CISA KEV listing, or POC indicator is present in the supplied data, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis and no evidence of active exploitation. Net assessment: this is a genuine remote code-execution flaw but its practical exploitability is gated by social engineering (victim must receive an attacker-named file) and a non-default invocation name, making it a moderate-priority patch rather than a drop-everything emergency. PR:N (unauthenticated) is confirmed by the CVSS 4.0 vector. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who controls the sending end of a ZMODEM/YMODEM session - for example a malicious or compromised remote host the victim connects to - offers a file whose name embeds shell metacharacters. When the victim receives it using lrz invoked under a suffixed name such as lrztar (pipe mode), procheader() in src/lrz.c passes the unescaped filename to popen() and the embedded command executes as the receiving user. No public exploit identified at time of analysis; exploitation requires the victim to initiate the transfer (UI:P). |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 06, 2026
OS command injection in lrzsz before 0.13.0 allows a remote ZMODEM/YMODEM sender to execute arbitrary shell commands as the receiving user by supplying a crafted filename during an lrz receive. The flaw is reachable only when lrz is invoked under a suffixed/alias name such as lrztar and operates in pipe mode, where procheader() in src/lrz.c forwards the unescaped filename to popen() and shell metacharacters are interpreted. Successful exploitation requires the victim to accept or initiate the transfer (UI:P) and yields command execution at the receiver's privilege level only (no cross-system impact per SC:N/SI:N/SA:N); no public exploit code or confirmed active exploitation was identified at time of analysis, and the vendor-supplied CVSS 4.0 score is 7.7 (High) while an independent assessment rates it CVSS 3.1 8.1 with AC:H given the non-default invocation and interaction prerequisites.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade to lrzsz 0.13.0, which fixes the unescaped filename handling in procheader(); the release notes are at https://ohse.de/uwe/software/lrzsz/NEWS-0.13.0.html and the source download is at https://ohse.de/uwe/software/lrzsz.html. Distributions shipping 0.12.x should backport the escaping fix or move to the 0.13.0 package as their maintainers publish it. Until upgrading is possible, the most effective compensating control is to eliminate the vulnerable invocation path: remove or rename any suffixed lrz aliases and wrappers (lrztar, lrzip-style symlinks, and any script that calls lrz with a pipe/decompression suffix) so that receive operations use plain lrz, which does not pass filenames to popen() - the trade-off is the loss of transparent on-the-fly decompression convenience. Where pipe mode must be retained, restrict use to trusted peers and manually inspect or sanitize incoming filenames, run the receiver under an unprivileged account with a minimal shell environment (which caps the blast radius to that user's privileges but does not remove the injection), and avoid mounting writable paths or credentials in the receiver's context. Because the attack depends on the victim accepting or initiating the transfer (UI:P), operator awareness training to reject unexpected ZMODEM/YMODEM transfers offers additional risk reduction, though it is a behavioral rather than technical control.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
lrzsz is a long-standing implementation of the ZMODEM, YMODEM and XMODEM file transfer protocols for Unix-like systems. The vulnerable component is the receive utility lrz, whose src/lrz.c contains procheader(), the routine that parses the file header sent by the peer and derives the local filename for the incoming transfer. In pipe mode - activated when the binary is invoked under a suffixed name such as lrztar - the received stream is piped to a decompression command, and procheader() constructs that command string without escaping the sender-supplied filename before handing it to popen(), a call that implicitly invokes /bin/sh -c. This is a classic CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command) root cause: untrusted peer-controlled data reaches a shell interpreter, so characters such as semicolons, backticks, $() and pipes in the filename are evaluated as commands rather than treated as literal filename bytes. CPE cpe:2.3:a:uwe_ohse:lrzsz:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* identifies Uwe Ohse's lrzsz across all versions prior to 0.13.0 as affected. Note the narrow trigger: a plain lrz invocation does not route the filename through popen(), so default usage is unaffected.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Non-default lrztar/pipe invocation makes AC:H and the victim must initiate the transfer (UI:R); no auth on the receiver (PR:N); command execution as the user yields C:H/I:H/A:H with no scope change (S:U).
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
lrzsz before 0.13.0 contains an OS command injection vulnerability in the lrz receive utility's pipe mode that allows remote senders to execute commands by supplying crafted filenames. When lrz runs under a suffixed name such as lrztar, procheader() in src/lrz.c passes the unescaped ZMODEM/YMODEM filename to popen(), so shell metacharacters execute as the receiving user.
Executive ViewAI
lrzsz versions before 0.13.0 contain a high-severity OS command injection that can allow a remote file-transfer sender to execute commands with the receiving user’s privileges when a non-standard alias such as lrztar is used in pipe mode. No public exploit identified at time of analysis and no vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis, so affected organizations should immediately restrict non-standard lrzsz usage and prepare to remediate once a fix is available. Leadership should care because successful exploitation could compromise user-level data and processes on systems where this file-transfer utility remains deployed.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: remove or disable non-standard lrzsz aliases/symlinks such as lrztar; avoid pipe-mode lrz receives; do not accept ZMODEM/YMODEM transfers from untrusted senders; run lrzsz with least privilege; monitor for shell metacharacters in filenames and unexpected child processes; apply vendor patch when released.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
OS command injection occurs when an application passes unsanitized user input directly into system shell commands.
Arbitrary file write through path traversal in lrzsz before 0.13.0 lets a malicious ZMODEM sender place files outside th
Heap memory corruption in the lrzsz lrz ZMODEM receive utility (all versions before 0.13.0) allows a malicious or compro
EUVD-2026-93393
GHSA-w9c3-4vq7-c452
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB