Vulnerability record · CVE-2026-77658 · published 26 August 2026
CVE-2026-77658: Stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability
A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the Dia diagram editor when processing Network Bus objects from Dia XML project files. In objects/network/bus.c, bus_load() reads the number of bus handles from the file attribute "bus_handles" using attribute_num_data() without validating an upper bound: bus->num_handles = attribute_num_data(attr); When a bus handle is subsequently moved, bus_handle_moved() allocates two temporary arrays on the stack: parallel = (real *)g_alloca(num_handles * sizeof(real)); perp = (real *)g_alloca(num_handles * sizeof(real)); Because num_handles is fully attacker-controlled via the project file, sufficiently large values (for example 262144 or higher) cause g_alloca() to consume more stack space than the default thread stack limit (typically 8 MB on Linux), resulting in stack overflow, SIGSEGV, and potential stack frame / return-address corruption. An attacker can embed a Bus object with an excessive bus_handles count in a malicious .dia file. Exploitation requires the victim to open the file in Dia (file dialog, command line, or file association) and trigger handle manipulation (moving a bus handle), which exercises the vulnerable code path. The identical g_alloca pattern is present in objects/Misc/tree.c (copied from bus.c) and is likely vulnerable to the same class of attack via Tree objects. Affected versions: Dia 0.98.0 and earlier versions containing this code; issue confirmed on upstream master as of 2026-08-21. Upstream report: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/dia/-/issues/581
Description
A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the Dia diagram editor when processing Network Bus objects from Dia XML project files. In objects/network/bus.c, bus_load() reads the number of bus handles from the file attribute "bus_handles" using attribute_num_data() without validating an upper bound: bus->num_handles = attribute_num_data(attr); When a bus handle is subsequently moved, bus_handle_moved() allocates two temporary arrays on the stack: parallel = (real *)g_alloca(num_handles * sizeof(real)); perp = (real *)g_alloca(num_handles * sizeof(real)); Because num_handles is fully attacker-controlled via the project file, sufficiently large values (for example 262144 or higher) cause g_alloca() to consume more stack space than the default thread stack limit (typically 8 MB on Linux), resulting in stack overflow, SIGSEGV, and potential stack frame / return-address corruption. An attacker can embed a Bus object with an excessive bus_handles count in a malicious .dia file. Exploitation requires the victim to open the file in Dia (file dialog, command line, or file association) and trigger handle manipulation (moving a bus handle), which exercises the vulnerable code path. The identical g_alloca pattern is present in objects/Misc/tree.c (copied from bus.c) and is likely vulnerable to the same class of attack via Tree objects. Affected versions: Dia 0.98.0 and earlier versions containing this code; issue confirmed on upstream master as of 2026-08-21. Upstream report: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/dia/-/issues/581
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
References
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Related vulnerabilities
Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2026-77658), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.
