CVE-2026-44723: CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') in VowpalWabbit vowpal_wabbit
Vowpal Wabbit is a machine learning system. The workflow .github/workflows/python_checks.yml embeds ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }} directly inside double-quoted bash strings in four separate steps across four jobs, each passing it as a CLI argument to the Python test script run_tests_model_gen_and_load.py. The shell interprets the expanded string before invoking Python, allowing an attacker to break out of the quotes and execute arbitrary commands on the runner. The pull_request trigger fires on PRs targeting any branch (branches: ['*']), with no additional access gate. This vulnerability is fixed by the 998e390e80a7e8192d7849b7784bc113dbd190ad commit.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
Vowpal Wabbit's GitHub workflow file python_checks.yml improperly embeds the pull request title (${ github.event.pull_request.title }) directly inside double-quoted bash strings in multiple steps, passing it as a CLI argument to a Python test script. Because the shell interprets this expanded string before invoking Python, an attacker can break out of the quotes and execute arbitrary OS commands on the GitHub Actions runner. This vulnerability is present in all versions before commit 998e390e80a7e8192d7849b7784bc113dbd190ad and is triggered on pull requests targeting any branch without additional access controls. The vulnerability is classified as CWE-78 (OS Command Injection) and CWE-1336.
Potential Impact
An attacker who can create a pull request against any branch in the affected repository can execute arbitrary commands on the GitHub Actions runner executing the workflow. This could lead to unauthorized code execution in the CI environment. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.0 (medium), reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, scope change, and limited confidentiality impact. There is no indication of known exploits in the wild.
Mitigation Recommendations
This vulnerability is fixed by commit 998e390e80a7e8192d7849b7784bc113dbd190ad. Users should update to this commit or later to remediate the issue. Since this is not a cloud service, remediation requires updating the affected codebase. Patch status is confirmed fixed by the vendor commit. No additional mitigations are indicated.
CVE-2026-44723: CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') in VowpalWabbit vowpal_wabbit
Description
Vowpal Wabbit is a machine learning system. The workflow .github/workflows/python_checks.yml embeds ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }} directly inside double-quoted bash strings in four separate steps across four jobs, each passing it as a CLI argument to the Python test script run_tests_model_gen_and_load.py. The shell interprets the expanded string before invoking Python, allowing an attacker to break out of the quotes and execute arbitrary commands on the runner. The pull_request trigger fires on PRs targeting any branch (branches: ['*']), with no additional access gate. This vulnerability is fixed by the 998e390e80a7e8192d7849b7784bc113dbd190ad commit.
CVSS v3.1
Score 5.0medium
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
Vowpal Wabbit's GitHub workflow file python_checks.yml improperly embeds the pull request title (${ github.event.pull_request.title }) directly inside double-quoted bash strings in multiple steps, passing it as a CLI argument to a Python test script. Because the shell interprets this expanded string before invoking Python, an attacker can break out of the quotes and execute arbitrary OS commands on the GitHub Actions runner. This vulnerability is present in all versions before commit 998e390e80a7e8192d7849b7784bc113dbd190ad and is triggered on pull requests targeting any branch without additional access controls. The vulnerability is classified as CWE-78 (OS Command Injection) and CWE-1336.
Potential Impact
An attacker who can create a pull request against any branch in the affected repository can execute arbitrary commands on the GitHub Actions runner executing the workflow. This could lead to unauthorized code execution in the CI environment. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.0 (medium), reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, scope change, and limited confidentiality impact. There is no indication of known exploits in the wild.
Mitigation Recommendations
This vulnerability is fixed by commit 998e390e80a7e8192d7849b7784bc113dbd190ad. Users should update to this commit or later to remediate the issue. Since this is not a cloud service, remediation requires updating the affected codebase. Patch status is confirmed fixed by the vendor commit. No additional mitigations are indicated.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- GitHub_M
- Date Reserved
- 2026-05-07T18:04:17.308Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- null
Threat ID: 6a15d22e891d628fdc60088d
Added to database: 5/26/2026, 5:02:38 PM
Last enriched: 5/26/2026, 5:33:43 PM
Last updated: 5/26/2026, 9:52:02 PM
Views: 3
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