Rsyslog is a rocket-fast system for log processing. From 7.5.4 until 8.2606.0, the optional mmpstrucdata plugins parseSD_PARAM function in plugins/mmpstrucdata/mmpstrucdata.c stores RFC5424 parameter values in a fixed pVal[32 * 1024] stack buffer and calls parsePARAM_VALUE without supplying the destination size. A remote unauthenticated attacker whose crafted RFC5424 message reaches an action using mmpstrucdata can provide a structured-data parameter larger than that buffer when MaxMessageSize permits it, causing an attacker-controlled stack overwrite. Deployments that do not install and use the plugin, or whose effective message-size limit remains below the required threshold, are not affected by this issue. The demonstrated impact is a crash and interruption of log collection; code execution is not demonstrated. This issue is fixed in version 8.2606.0.
Weakness
A stack-based buffer overflow condition is a condition where the buffer being overwritten is allocated on the stack (i.e., is a local variable or, rarely, a parameter to a function).
Affected Software
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rsyslog | Ubuntu | jammy | * |
| Rsyslog | Ubuntu | noble | * |
| Rsyslog | Ubuntu | resolute | * |
Potential Mitigations
- Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.
- D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
- Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program’s executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.
- Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as “rebasing” (for Windows) and “prelinking” (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.
- For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].
References
- https://github.com/rsyslog/rsyslog/commit/bcda60a3692efdf0c8e44102528f5a0ebe0dec6d
- https://github.com/rsyslog/rsyslog/pull/6991
- https://github.com/rsyslog/rsyslog/releases/tag/v8.2606.0
- https://github.com/rsyslog/rsyslog/security/advisories/GHSA-8qmr-c66f-g368
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/07/20/1