The kill utility in uutils coreutils contains an argument parsing flaw that interprets the string "-1" as a request to send the default signal, SIGTERM, to PID -1. Sending a signal to PID -1 causes all processes visible to the caller to receive the signal, which can abruptly terminate them and crash the system. This is a classic input validation error (CWE‑20) that directly leads to a local denial of service.

The vulnerability affects the uutils coreutils package, specifically the kill command. No specific version range is listed in the CVE entry, but related information points to a pull request and the release tag 0.6.0, implying that releases prior to 0.6.0 are vulnerable. Administrators should verify which version of uutils coreutils is installed on their hosts.

With a CVSS score of 5.5, the flaw has moderate severity. EPSS information is missing, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. The attack vector is local: any user/process that can invoke "kill -1" with sufficient privileges can trigger the kernel to terminate all processes visible to the caller, resulting in a system crash or denial of service. Remote exploitation or code execution is not required for this vulnerability.