GNU Emacs up to 31.1 intern/unintern read-symbol-shorthands code injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in GNU Emacs up to 31.1. Affected by this issue is the function intern/unintern. Such manipulation of the argument read-symbol-shorthands leads to code injection. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-96269. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in GNU Emacs up to 31.1. Affected by this issue is the function intern/unintern. The manipulation of the argument read-symbol-shorthands with an unknown input leads to a code injection vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-94. The product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or behavior of the intended code segment. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

GNU Emacs 28.1 through 31.1 allows arbitrary code execution upon opening a file, because an untrusted value of read-symbol-shorthands affects the intern and unintern functions. This affects the default configuration; no particular user settings are required to trigger it.

The advisory is shared for download at yhetil.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-96269 since 09/22/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 09/23/2026). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1059.

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

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-3534). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Open Source GNU Emacs

Productinfo

Type

• Word Processing Software

Vendor

• GNU

Name

• Emacs

Version

• 31.0
• 31.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.gnu.org/

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Entryinfo

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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