Executive Summary

CVE-2026-54699 is an OS command injection vulnerability in the Warp terminal application when running under Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). When Warp tries to open a URL and cannot use the usual wslview tool, it falls back to using a Windows command processor to open the link. If a malicious URL is displayed in the terminal output, it can exploit this fallback to execute arbitrary commands on the Windows host as the current user when the user opens the link.

The vulnerability arises because the fallback method does not properly sanitize or validate the URL, allowing special characters or malicious input to be interpreted as commands. The issue is fixed by encoding URLs to escape special characters, validating URL schemes to allow only safe protocols like http and https, and replacing the fallback command with a safer Windows URL handler.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on your Windows system if you are running Warp under WSL and open a maliciously crafted URL from the terminal output. This could lead to full compromise of your Windows user environment, including data theft, system modification, or further malware installation.

Exploitation requires user interaction, specifically opening the malicious link. The vulnerability only affects WSL configurations where the wslview tool is unavailable and the environment variable WARP_FORCE_WSL_BROWSER is not set. Native Windows, macOS, non-WSL Linux, or WSL sessions with wslview working or WARP_FORCE_WSL_BROWSER set are not affected.

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Detection Guidance

Detection of this vulnerability involves checking if you are running a vulnerable version of Warp under WSL and if the fallback URL opening mechanism is in use.

Specifically, you can verify the Warp version to see if it is between 0.2024.03.12.08.02.stable_01 and 0.2026.05.06.15.42.stable_01, which are affected.

Additionally, check if wslview is unavailable or if the environment variable WARP_FORCE_WSL_BROWSER is not set, as these conditions enable the vulnerable fallback.

• Run `warp --version` or check Warp's version information to confirm if it is vulnerable.
• Check if wslview is installed by running `which wslview` or `wslview --version`.
• Check if the environment variable WARP_FORCE_WSL_BROWSER is set: `echo $WARP_FORCE_WSL_BROWSER`.

Monitoring terminal output for suspicious URLs that could trigger command injection when opened may also help detect exploitation attempts.

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability immediately, you should update Warp to the fixed version v0.2026.05.13.09.15.stable_01 or later.

If updating is not immediately possible, apply the following workarounds:

• Install the wslu package to ensure wslview is available, preventing the fallback to the vulnerable Windows command processor path.
• Set the environment variable WARP_FORCE_WSL_BROWSER=1 to force Warp to use the WSL browser instead of the vulnerable fallback.

These steps prevent the vulnerable fallback mechanism from being triggered and reduce the risk of OS command injection.

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Compliance Impact

The provided information does not specify any direct impact of the CVE-2026-54699 vulnerability on compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.

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