CVE-2026-63729
Publication date 21 July 2026
Last updated 6 August 2026
Ubuntu priority
Description
The SyncTeX parser (synctex_parser.c) shipped with TeX Live and embedded by downstream consumers such as GNOME Evince contains a heap use-after-free vulnerability that allows attackers to crash applications or potentially execute arbitrary code by supplying a malformed .synctex or .synctex.gz file. A malformed SyncTeX file can construct a ref node with a NULL parent pointer, causing the replacement routine to fail to detach the node from its sibling chain, which triggers recursive freeing of live tree nodes and leaves dangling pointers that are later accessed by the parser during document load.
Status
| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status |
|---|---|---|
| texlive-bin | 26.04 LTS resolute |
Needs evaluation
|
| 24.04 LTS noble |
Needs evaluation
|
|
| 22.04 LTS jammy |
Needs evaluation
|
|
| 20.04 LTS focal |
Needs evaluation
|
|
| 18.04 LTS bionic |
Needs evaluation
|
|
| 16.04 LTS xenial |
Needs evaluation
|
Severity score breakdown
CVSS version:
Base score
6.8 · Medium
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:L/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Base score
6.6 · Medium
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H