CVE-2026-44463 affects the zed code editor prior to version 0.229.0. The vulnerability arises from an incomplete list of disallowed inputs in the terminal tool permission system, allowing attackers to bypass restrictions by prepending environment variable assignments to allowlisted commands. This can lead to hijacking of program behavior, such as manipulating the PAGER environment variable, resulting in arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-184 (Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs) and CWE-78 (OS Command Injection). It has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.6, indicating high severity with local attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, user interaction required, scope changed, and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The vulnerability is fixed in version 0.229.0 of zed.

Successful exploitation allows an attacker to bypass the terminal tool permission system and execute arbitrary code by manipulating environment variables in allowlisted commands. This compromises confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system. The vulnerability requires local access and user interaction but no privileges, and it changes the security scope, making it a high-impact issue.

Upgrade zed to version 0.229.0 or later, where this vulnerability is fixed. Since the vulnerability is resolved in this version, no additional mitigation steps are necessary. Patch status is confirmed by the vendor's versioning information.