CVE-2026-40176
Description
A flaw was found in Composer. Perforce::generateP4Command() constructs shell commands by interpolating user-supplied Perforce connection parameters (port, user, client) without proper escaping, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary commands through these values in a malicious composer.json declaring a Perforce VCS repository.
Statement
To exploit this vulnerability, a user needs to run Composer commands on untrusted projects with attacker-supplied composer.json files. VCS repositories are only loaded from the root composer.json or the composer config directory, so this issue cannot be exploited through composer.json files of packages installed as dependencies. This issue can cause arbitrary command execution but it is limited to the context of the user running Composer. Due to these reasons, this flaw has been rated with an important severity.
Mitigation
To mitigate this vulnerability, only run Composer commands on projects from trusted sources. Also, inspect composer.json files before running Composer commands on them, specifically checking that Perforce-related fields contain valid values.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.8 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability,Non-Repudiation
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Read Files or Directories; Modify Files or Directories; Read Application Data; Modify Application Data; Hide Activities
Attackers could execute unauthorized operating system commands, which could then be used to disable the product, or read and modify data for which the attacker does not have permissions to access directly. Since the targeted application is directly executing the commands instead of the attacker, any malicious activities may appear to come from the application or the application's owner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
