CVE-2026-5917
Received
Received - Intake
Command Injection in libgit2 via SSH Submodule URLs
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-5917, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-08-11
Last updated on: 2026-08-11
Assigner: VulnCheck
Description
Description
libgit2 versions v0.27.0 through v1.9.0 built with the libssh2 SSH backend (USE_SSH=libssh2) contain a shell command injection vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands on an SSH server by supplying a repository path containing unescaped shell metacharacters such as single quotes, semicolons, or pipes. The gen_proto() function in ssh_libssh2.c inserts the repository path directly into a shell command string without escaping special characters before passing it to libssh2_channel_exec(), enabling an attacker to craft a malicious submodule URL in a .gitmodules file that, when processed during a recursive clone, causes the remote server's shell to interpret injected commands under the victim's SSH user account.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| libgit2 | libgit2 | From 0.27.0 (inc) to 1.9.0 (inc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-78 | The product constructs all or part of an OS command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended OS command when it is sent to a downstream component. |
