An issue was discovered in rsync before 3.2.5 that allows malicious remote servers to write arbitrary files inside the directories of connecting peers. The server chooses which files/directories are sent to the client. However, the rsync client performs insufficient validation of file names. A malicious rsync server (or Man-in-The-Middle attacker) can overwrite arbitrary files in the rsync client target directory and subdirectories (for example, overwrite the .ssh/authorized_keys file).

A flaw was found in rsync in versions since 3.2.0pre1. Rsync improperly validates certificate with host mismatch vulnerability. A remote, unauthenticated attacker could exploit the flaw by performing a man-in-the-middle attack using a valid certificate for another hostname which could compromise confidentiality and integrity of data transmitted using rsync-ssl. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity. This flaw affects rsync versions before 3.2.4.