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High

Composer code execution and possible privilege escalation via compromised InstalledVersions.php or installed.php

  • Disclosed: 08.02.2024
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Impact

Several files within the local working directory are included during the invocation of Composer and in the context of the executing user.

As such, under certain conditions arbitrary code execution may lead to local privilege escalation, provide lateral user movement or malicious code execution when Composer is invoked within a directory with tampered files.

All Composer CLI commands are affected, including composer.phar's self-update.

The following are of high risk:

  • Composer being run with sudo.
  • Pipelines which may execute Composer on untrusted projects.
  • Shared environments with developers who run Composer individually on the same project.

Patches

2.7.0, 2.2.23

Workarounds

  • It is advised that the patched versions are applied at the earliest convenience.

Where not possible, the following should be addressed:

  • Remove all sudo composer privileges for all users to mitigate root privilege escalation.
  • Avoid running Composer within an untrusted directory, or if needed, verify that the contents of vendor/composer/InstalledVersions.php and vendor/composer/installed.php do not include untrusted code.

A reset can also be done on these files by the following:

bash
rm vendor/composer/installed.php vendor/composer/InstalledVersions.php
composer install --no-scripts --no-plugins

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Composer package composer/composer >= 2.0.0-alpha1, < 2.2.23, >= 2.3.0-rc1, < 2.7.0 2.2.23, 2.7.0

References

CVSS score 8.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-829
Platform
Composer
Package
composer/composer
Disclosed
08.02.2024
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-7c6p-848j-wh5h - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: composer/composer

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Composer package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (17) in the archive
Total entries
17
First → latest
04.2021 10.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 13
  • Medium 3
  • Low 1

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. Composer arbitrary command execution via a malicious package's Perforce source URL
    High CVE-2026-84361 >= 2.3.0, < 2.10.3, >= 1.0, < 2.2.30 2.10.3, 2.2.30
  2. Composer: Arbitrary file write outside vendor via malicious transitive package name
    High · 7.0 CVE-2026-59948 >= 2.3.0, < 2.10.2, >= 1.0.0, < 2.2.29 2.10.2, 2.2.29
  3. Github Actions issued GITHUB_TOKEN disclosure in GitHub Actions logs
    High · 7.5 CVE-2026-45793 >= 2.3.0, < 2.9.8, >= 2.0.0, < 2.2.28, >= 1.0, < 1.10.28 2.9.8, 2.2.28, 1.10.28
  4. Composer has a command injection via malicious perforce repository
    High · 7.8 CVE-2026-40176 >= 2.3.0, < 2.9.6, >= 1.0.0, < 2.2.27 2.9.6, 2.2.27
  5. Composer has a command injection via malicious perforce reference
    High · 8.8 CVE-2026-40261 >= 2.3.0, < 2.9.6, >= 1.0.0, < 2.2.27 2.9.6, 2.2.27
  6. Composer has a command injection via malicious git branch name
    High · 8.8 CVE-2024-35241 >= 2.0, < 2.2.24, >= 2.3, < 2.7.7 2.2.24, 2.7.7
  7. Composer has multiple command injections via malicious git/hg branch names
    High · 8.8 CVE-2024-35242 >= 2.0, < 2.2.24, >= 2.3, < 2.7.7 2.2.24, 2.7.7
  8. Composer code execution and possible privilege escalation via compromised InstalledVersions.php or installed.php this entry
    High · 8.8 CVE-2024-24821 >= 2.0.0-alpha1, < 2.2.23, >= 2.3.0-rc1, < 2.7.0 2.2.23, 2.7.0
  9. Composer Remote Code Execution vulnerability via web-accessible composer.phar
    High · 8.8 CVE-2023-43655 < 1.10.27, >= 2.0.0, < 2.2.22, >= 2.3.0, < 2.6.4 1.10.27, 2.2.22, 2.6.4
  10. Composer allows cache poisoning from other projects built on the same host
    High · 8.8 CVE-2015-8371 < 1.0.0 1.0.0
  11. Missing input validation can lead to command execution in composer
    High · 8.3 CVE-2022-24828 < 1.10.26, >= 2.0, < 2.2.12, >= 2.3, < 2.3.5 1.10.26, 2.2.12, 2.3.5
  12. Improper escaping of command arguments on Windows leading to command injection
    High · 8.2 CVE-2021-41116 < 1.10.23, >= 2.0.0-alpha1, < 2.1.9 1.10.23, 2.1.9
  13. Composer's missing argument delimiter can lead to code execution via VCS repository URLs or source download URLs on systems with Mercurial
    High · 8.8 CVE-2021-29472 < 1.10.22, >= 2.0.0-alpha1, < 2.0.13 1.10.22, 2.0.13

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