CVE-2026-44723

Vowpal Wabbit: Shell injection via crafted PR title in python_checks.yml allows arbitrary command execution on CI runner

State
Published
Severity
5.0 Medium
Published
May 26, 2026
Updated
May 28, 2026
Reserved
May 7, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

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.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.15.0 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:NGitHub_M

Weaknesses

  • CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
  • CWE-1336 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine

Affected Products

ProductVersions
vowpal_wabbitVowpalWabbit
  • < 998e390e80a7e8192d7849b7784bc113dbd190adAffected

References

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