Renovate before 42.68.5 Remote Code Execution via Gradle Wrapper

CISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.

No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.

Renovate versions >=32.124.0 and before 42.68.5 (and Mend renovate-ce/renovate-ee before 13.3.0) contain a command injection vulnerability in Gradle Wrapper artifact handling. When Renovate processes Gradle Wrapper updates, it invokes a wrapper update command via a shell (e.g. /bin/sh -c ... ./gradlew :wrapper --gradle-distribution-url <value>). If an attacker supplies a malicious gradle-wrapper.properties whose distributionUrl contains shell command substitution syntax such as $(...), the shell evaluates it before Gradle parses the URL, resulting in arbitrary command execution in the Renovate runtime. Exploitation requires the attacker to introduce the malicious file into a repository that Renovate scans; the issue occurs even when allowScripts is disabled.

Source published

19 Aug 2026 14:02:10 UTC

Source modified

8 Oct 2026 15:25:04 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: cve-program · CVE Program Terms of Use. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 4.0 · 8.4 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS 3.1 · 6.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Renovate versions >=32.124.0 and before 42.68.5 (and Mend renovate-ce/renovate-ee before 13.3.0) contain a command injection vulnerability in Gradle Wrapper artifact handling. When Renovate processes Gradle Wrapper updates, it invokes a wrapper update command via a shell (e.g. /bin/sh -c ... ./gradlew :wrapper --gradle-distribution-url <value>). If an attacker supplies a malicious gradle-wrapper.properties whose distributionUrl contains shell command substitution syntax such as $(...), the shell evaluates it before Gradle parses the URL, resulting in arbitrary command execution in the Renovate runtime. Exploitation requires the attacker to introduce the malicious file into a repository that Renovate scans; the issue occurs even when allowScripts is disabled.

Source published

Aug 19, 2026, 2:02:10 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Oct 8, 2026, 3:25:04 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

9 Nov 2026 15:12:33 UTC

Source terms

ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: euvd · ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

EUVD CVSS 4.0 · 8.4 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Renovate versions >=32.124.0 and before 42.68.5 (and Mend renovate-ce/renovate-ee before 13.3.0) contain a command injection vulnerability in Gradle Wrapper artifact handling. When Renovate processes Gradle Wrapper updates, it invokes a wrapper update command via a shell (e.g. /bin/sh -c ... ./gradlew :wrapper --gradle-distribution-url <value>). If an attacker supplies a malicious gradle-wrapper.properties whose distributionUrl contains shell command substitution syntax such as $(...), the shell evaluates it before Gradle parses the URL, resulting in arbitrary command execution in the Renovate runtime. Exploitation requires the attacker to introduce the malicious file into a repository that Renovate scans; the issue occurs even when allowScripts is disabled.

Source published

19 Aug 2026 14:17:49 UTC

Source modified

8 Oct 2026 16:17:42 UTC

Observed here

25 Oct 2026 16:19:04 UTC

Source terms

NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: nvd · NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 4.0 · [email protected] · Secondary · 8.4 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/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

CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Secondary · 6.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

### Summary Renovate can be tricked into executing shell code while updating the Gradle Wrapper. A malicious `distributionUrl` in `gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties` can lead to command execution in the Renovate runtime. ### Details When Renovate handles Gradle Wrapper artifacts, it may run a wrapper update command such as: - `./gradlew :wrapper --gradle-distribution-url <value>` In the observed behavior, Renovate executes this via a shell (e.g., `/bin/sh -c ...`). If `distributionUrl` contains shell command substitution syntax like `$(...)`, the shell evaluates it **before** Gradle validates/parses the URL. After that, Gradle attempts to parse the URL as a URI and fails with `URISyntaxException`, but the shell substitution has already executed. This is reproducible even when `allowScripts` is disabled (default is OFF), because this execution happens as part of Gradle Wrapper artifact handling rather than “repository install scripts”. Prerequisites / attack conditions: - The attacker must be able to get a malicious `gradle-wrapper.properties` into a repository that Renovate scans (e.g., direct write access, or a maintainer merges an attacker’s change/PR). - Renovate must be configured to process Gradle Wrapper updates/artifacts for that repository (default behavior for the Gradle Wrapper manager). ### PoC 1. Create a repository with a Gradle Wrapper (`gradlew`, `gradlew.bat`, `gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar`, and `gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties`). 2. Set `distributionUrl` in `gradle-wrapper.properties` to include `$(...)`. 3. Run Renovate against the repository. 4. Observe that a file is created during Renovate’s wrapper update step **before** Gradle fails with `URISyntaxException`. A [screen recording](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nveSCgyz4pKPCZuelqDD_xGEO00DXr4P/view) is attached showing end-to-end reproduction. In the demo, the payload creates `/tmp/passwd_dump` containing `/etc/passwd`, demonstrating that file read/exfiltration is possible within the Renovate execution context. ### Impact This allows arbitrary command execution in the Renovate runtime during Gradle Wrapper updates. Depending on deployment, this may expose credentials/tokens available to the bot and may allow an attacker to modify repositories or access internal resources reachable from the Renovate environment. ### Remediation Upgrading to Renovate [42.68.5](https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate/releases/tag/42.68.5) (2025-12-31) fixes this issue, and closes out other risks of shell evaluation for commands run by Renovate. If using the `composer`, `yarn` (v1) or `flux` managers, please upgrade to [42.74.5](https://github.com/renovatebot/renovate/releases/tag/42.74.5) (2026-01-08), as there were follow-up fixes to keep these managers working.

Source published

13 Jan 2026 19:54:29 UTC

Source modified

20 Aug 2026 04:04:14 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:17:17 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Publisher rating · MODERATE