AWS CDK OsCommand Helper Command Injection Vulnerability

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-13760 is an OS command injection vulnerability in the NodejsFunction Docker bundling feature of the aws-cdk-lib framework. It affects versions prior to 2.260.0 and allows an attacker who controls a dependency version string in a project's package.json file to execute arbitrary commands on the host system running the CDK toolchain.

This happens during Docker-based Lambda bundling when the nodeModules option is specified, because the version strings are interpolated into a shell command without proper escaping. The attacker must control the content of a package.json dependency version string processed during this bundling process.

The vulnerability is due to injected shell metacharacters in the OsCommand helper, which leads to command injection on the host.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the host system running the AWS CDK toolchain, potentially compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system.

Because the attacker can run arbitrary OS commands, they could manipulate or steal sensitive data, disrupt operations, or install malicious software.

The vulnerability has a high severity score (CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.3) reflecting its significant potential impact.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability involves OS command injection through dependency version strings in a project's package.json file during Docker-based bundling with nodeModules specified in aws-cdk-lib versions prior to 2.260.0.

Detection would involve inspecting the package.json files for untrusted or suspicious dependency version strings that might contain shell metacharacters or injection payloads.

Additionally, monitoring the host system running the CDK toolchain for unexpected command executions or unusual Docker bundling activity could help identify exploitation attempts.

No specific detection commands or tools are provided in the available resources.

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Mitigation Strategies

The primary mitigation step is to upgrade aws-cdk-lib to version 2.260.0 or later, where this vulnerability has been fixed.

• Upgrade aws-cdk-lib to version 2.260.0 or newer.
• Ensure all dependencies in the nodeModules are from trusted sources and verify the integrity of dependency version strings in package.json files.
• Consider using local bundling instead of Docker-based bundling to avoid processing untrusted version strings in the Docker environment.

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Compliance Impact

The provided information does not specify how CVE-2026-13760 affects compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.

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