CVE-2025-49013 is a critical code injection vulnerability affecting multiple projects within the WilderForge organization, specifically in their GitHub Actions workflows. The root cause is the unsafe interpolation of user-controlled input, such as `${{ github.event.review.body }}`, directly into shell script contexts without proper sanitization or escaping. This allows an attacker who can submit a crafted pull request review containing shell metacharacters or commands to execute arbitrary shell code on the GitHub Actions runner. Since GitHub Actions runners typically have access to repository secrets, build artifacts, and CI infrastructure, exploitation can lead to full compromise of the continuous integration environment. The vulnerability affects various WilderForge repositories and any forks that reuse the vulnerable workflows. Importantly, this issue does not impact the runtime behavior of the software or compiled outputs unless those outputs were generated during an exploitation event. The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 10.0, indicating critical severity, with an attack vector of network, low attack complexity, requiring low privileges but no user interaction, and resulting in complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. No known exploits in the wild have been reported yet. Current mitigations include disabling GitHub Actions workflows or removing the vulnerable workflows until patched versions are released. The affected versions span multiple WilderForge components and plugins prior to their respective fixed versions (e.g., WilderForge < 0.4.2.0, ExampleMod < 1.0.0.5, etc.). This vulnerability exemplifies CWE-94 (Improper Control of Generation of Code), CWE-95 (Improper Neutralization of Directives in Dynamically Evaluated Code), and CWE-116 (Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output).

For European organizations that contribute to or fork the affected WilderForge repositories, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to their CI/CD pipelines. An attacker exploiting this flaw could execute arbitrary commands on GitHub Actions runners, potentially stealing sensitive information such as API keys, credentials, or proprietary code. This could lead to supply chain compromises, unauthorized code changes, or insertion of malicious code into builds. Organizations relying on automated builds and deployments using these workflows may face disruption, data breaches, and reputational damage. Although end users of the software who only consume pre-built releases are not directly impacted, developers and organizations involved in development or continuous integration using these repositories are at risk. The compromise of CI infrastructure can also serve as a pivot point for further attacks within an organization’s network or cloud environment. Given the critical severity and ease of exploitation, European entities using these workflows must urgently address this vulnerability to maintain the integrity and security of their development processes.

1. Immediately disable GitHub Actions workflows in all affected repositories and forks until patched workflows are available. 2. Remove or refactor any usage of user-controlled variables directly interpolated into shell scripts in GitHub Actions workflows. Use safe parameterization or environment variables with proper escaping. 3. Implement strict input validation and sanitization on all user inputs that influence CI workflows. 4. Restrict permissions of GitHub Actions runners to the minimum necessary, avoiding storage of sensitive secrets in workflows where possible. 5. Monitor GitHub Actions logs and pull request reviews for suspicious activity indicative of exploitation attempts. 6. Update all affected WilderForge components and plugins to their fixed versions as soon as patches are released. 7. Educate developers and maintainers about secure coding practices in CI/CD pipelines, emphasizing the dangers of code injection in automation scripts. 8. Consider using GitHub’s security features such as required reviewers and branch protection rules to limit who can submit pull request reviews that trigger workflows. 9. Audit forks and downstream projects that reuse these workflows to ensure they are not vulnerable. 10. Employ runtime monitoring and anomaly detection on CI infrastructure to detect unusual command executions.