CVE-2024-42002

Received Received - Intake

Code Injection in ROS 2 ros2topic Command-Line Tool

Publication date: 2026-09-28

Last updated on: 2026-09-28

Assigner: Canonical Ltd.

Description

A code injection vulnerability has been discovered in the Robot Operating System 2 (ROS 2) 'ros2topic' command-line tool, affecting all ROS 2 distributions from Crystal Clemmys up to and including Lyrical Luth and Rolling Ridley. The vulnerability lies in the 'hz' verb, which reports the publishing rate of a topic and accepts a user-provided Python expression via the --filter option. This input is passed directly to the eval() function without sanitization, allowing a local user to craft and execute arbitrary code.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-28

Last Modified

2026-09-28

Generated

2026-09-29

AI Q&A

2026-09-29

EPSS Evaluated

N/A

NVD

CVE-2024-42002

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
openrobotics	robot_operating_system	From 2.0.0 (inc) to 2.3.0 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-95	The product receives input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes code syntax before using the input in a dynamic evaluation call (e.g. "eval").
CWE-94	The product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or behavior of the intended code segment.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This is a code injection vulnerability in ROS 2's 'ros2topic' tool. The 'hz' verb accepts a Python expression via the --filter option, which is passed to eval() without sanitization. This allows local users to execute arbitrary code on affected systems.

Detection Guidance

To detect this vulnerability, check if the ROS 2 'ros2topic' tool with the 'hz' verb is installed and if the --filter option is available. Run 'ros2topic hz --help' to see if the --filter option exists. If it does, the system may be vulnerable.

Impact Analysis

An attacker with local access could exploit this to run malicious code on your system, potentially stealing data, installing malware, or disrupting operations. Since it requires local access, remote exploitation is not possible.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized code execution, potentially violating data protection requirements under GDPR or HIPAA if sensitive data is accessed or modified. Compliance may be impacted if systems are not patched.

Mitigation Strategies

Immediately update ROS 2 to the latest patched version. Avoid using the 'hz' verb with the --filter option until a patch is applied. Restrict access to the 'ros2topic' tool to trusted users only.

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