CVE-2026-113723

7.1High

Published 20 Oct 2026 · NVD status: Received · AI triage by gemini-3.8-flash

7.1High

Attack vector: Local
Complexity: High
Privileges needed: None
User interaction: Active
Impact: Full C/I/A compromise
Weakness: CWE-78

Impact

Attackers can execute arbitrary commands in a user's bash shell if they can control the prompt text passed during virtual environment creation. Exploitation requires a user to activate the malicious virtualenv and render the shell prompt.

Root cause

Improper sanitization allows caller-supplied prompt text to be interpreted as executable shell syntax inside generated bash activation scripts.

Affected systems

virtualenv prior to 21.14.9

CVSS v4.0 · CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Fix & remediation

Upgrade virtualenv to version 21.14.9 or higher and recreate or update existing environment activation scripts.

shell

$ pip install --upgrade 'virtualenv>=21.14.9'

AI-suggested. Run it in staging first and check it against the vendor advisory. Why?

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NVD description

virtualenv is a tool for creating isolated virtual python environments. Prior to 21.14.9, caller-supplied prompt text can become executable syntax in the bash activation prompt. An attacker must influence the value passed to virtualenv, and a user must subsequently activate the environment and draw the prompt. This vulnerability is fixed in 21.14.9.

References

Source: nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-113723