CVE-2026-12171
Received
Received - Intake
Command Injection in auto-changelog
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-12171, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-10-05
Last updated on: 2026-10-05
Assigner: harborist
Description
Description
auto-changelog before 2.6.1 merges configuration from inside the target repository (the .auto-changelog file and the auto-changelog key in package.json) into its options, and honors security-sensitive options from that untrusted source. The handlebarsSetup option is passed to require(), so running auto-changelog over attacker-controlled repository content (for example, in a CI workflow that checks out an untrusted pull request head, or locally on a forked or third-party repository) executes attacker-chosen code with the privileges of the invoking user or CI job, including access to workflow secrets, without the repository dependencies ever being installed. The plugins option similarly loads attacker-controlled modules from the repository. Under the same conditions, appendGitLog/appendGitTag allow git argument injection (e.g. --output= to write arbitrary files), output allows writing attacker-influenced content to arbitrary paths, and template causes an outbound request to an attacker-chosen URL. Version 2.6.1 treats in-repository configuration as untrusted and refuses to run when it sets these options, unless the new --unsafe-config flag is passed.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| cookpete | auto-changelog | 0 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-88 | The product constructs a string for a command to be executed by a separate component in another control sphere, but it does not properly delimit the intended arguments, options, or switches within that command string. |
| CWE-22 | The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. |
| CWE-918 | The web server receives a URL or similar request from an upstream component and retrieves the contents of this URL, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the request is being sent to the expected destination. |
| CWE-829 | The product imports, requires, or includes executable functionality (such as a library) from a source that is outside of the intended control sphere. |
| 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. |