CUPS has a use-after-free in `cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters` via dangling subscription pointer
Summary
CUPS has a use-after-free in cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters via dangling subscription pointer
Original description
The description as published by the source.
OpenPrinting CUPS is an open source printing system for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. In versions 2.4.16 and prior, a use-after-free vulnerability exists in the CUPS scheduler (cupsd) when temporary printers are automatically deleted. cupsdDeleteTemporaryPrinters() in scheduler/printers.c calls cupsdDeletePrinter() without first expiring subscriptions that reference the printer, leaving cupsd_subscription_t.dest as a dangling pointer to freed heap memory. The dangling pointer is subsequently dereferenced at multiple code sites, causing a crash (denial of service) of the cupsd daemon. With heap grooming, this can be leveraged for code execution.
Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- Alpine Linux ALPINE-CVE-2026-39316 cups Fixed in: 2.4.18-r0
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2026-39316 cups
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2026-39316 cups
References
- advisory github.com
- advisory github.com
- advisory nvd.nist.gov