VirusTotal YARA 4.5.8 Deserialization yr_rules_destroy memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in VirusTotal YARA 4.5.8. This impacts the function yr_rules_destroy of the component Deserialization. The manipulation results in memory corruption. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2026-88340. The attack may be launched remotely. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in VirusTotal YARA 4.5.8. It has been classified as critical. Affected is the function yr_rules_destroy of the component Deserialization. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

An invalid pointer release vulnerability exists in YARA 4.5.8 during deserialization of compiled .yrc rule files. The vulnerability is caused by insufficient validation of external-variable pointers, which may lead to invalid free in yr_rules_destroy() or wild pointer access in yr_object_create(). An attacker can provide a specially crafted .yrc file that causes memory corruption and application crash.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-88340 since 09/10/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The exploitation doesn't require any form of authentication. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/22/2026).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Anti-Malware Software

Vendor

• VirusTotal

Name

• YARA

Version

• 4.5.8

Website

• Product: https://github.com/VirusTotal/yara/

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If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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