GNU Coreutils fixes sort behavior when PATH environment variable is undefined

A recent update to GNU Coreutils addresses a bug in the sort utility regarding how it handles the PATH environment variable. When the PATH variable is undefined, the utility previously failed to locate necessary external programs required for certain operations.

This fix was identified by Anthropic's OSS Scanner and is tracked as bug ANT-2026-1R7RAVAG. The change ensures that the sort command behaves more predictably across different shell environments and system configurations.

POSIX compliance and PATH handling

• Bug Fix: The sort utility now utilizes a default PATH when the environment variable is not set, aligning with POSIX specifications.
• Library Update: The fix involves an update to gnulib, specifically within the findprog-in function used to locate executables.
• Regression Testing: A new test case has been added to tests/sort/sort-compress.sh to ensure stability in compression-related sort operations.
• Vulnerability Tracking: The issue was formally discovered and categorized by Anthropic's OSS Scanner under the identifier ANT-2026-1R7RAVAG.

Why it matters

This update improves the robustness of core system utilities for system administrators and developers working in minimal or highly customized shell environments. By ensuring POSIX compliance, it reduces the likelihood of script failures in automated environments where the PATH might not be explicitly exported.