NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2026-44461: Zed: Remote Command Injection via Unquoted Environment Variable Keys (SSH / WSL Remote)

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 34/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.25% (FIRST EPSS).
Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. No account or password is required. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: zed-industries zed 0.227.1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to zed-industries zed 0.227.1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Zed is a code editor. Prior to 0.227.1, Zed builds SSH/WSL remote commands as a shell command string that starts with exec env ..., but environment variable keys are inserted without shell quoting or validation. If an attacker can control an environment variable key (for example via project terminal settings), shell expansions in the key (such as $(...)) are evaluated by the remote shell when a terminal is opened. This can lead to arbitrary command execution on the remote host under the victim user's account. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.227.1.

HighCVSS 8.6 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Published: May 28, 2026
Updated: Jun 17, 2026
EPSS: 0.2% · 17th percentile
CWE: CWE-78

Report tools

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Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 34 / 40 · 8.6 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: proof of concept
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: —
CNA · GitHub_M: 8.6; NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
zed	zed	cpe:2.3:a:zed:zed

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

zed zedbefore 0.227.1

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

zed-industries zed
- < 0.227.1affected

Same product

zed: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2026-44462Zed: Allowlist Bypass via Bash Variable Expansion Chain in Terminal Tool Permissions
35Monitor
CVE-2026-27976Zed Extension Sandbox Escape via Tar Symlink Following
35Monitor
CVE-2026-44466Zed: Allowlist Bypass via Bash Arithmetic Expansion in Terminal Tool Permissions
34Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2026-27800Feb 25, 2026 · Zed has Zip Slip Path Traversal in Extension Archive Extraction
29Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2026-27967Feb 25, 2026 · Symlink Escape in Agent File Tools
28Monitor
Later →CVE-2026-44463May 28, 2026 · Zed: Allowlist Bypass via Environment Variable Injection in Terminal Tool Permissions
31Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
zed-industries zed	0.227.1 · description	Vendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

CVE-2026-444650 days apartZed: Zed IDE Arbitrary Code Execution via untrusted repository with poisoned .git/config
34Monitor
CVE-2026-444660 days apartZed: Allowlist Bypass via Bash Arithmetic Expansion in Terminal Tool Permissions
34Monitor
CVE-2026-444630 days apartZed: Allowlist Bypass via Environment Variable Injection in Terminal Tool Permissions
31Monitor

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
A user must open a link or visit a page.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).

Attack vector: Local
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: Required
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-78 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-secondary

Root cause

User input is inserted as text into a shell command. The shell may interpret special characters in the input as part of the command.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-78 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const host = req.body.host;
2exec("ping -c 1 " + host, onResult);

Fixed

1const host = req.body.host;
2if (!/^[a-z0-9.-]{1,253}$/i.test(host)) return res.sendStatus(400);
3execFile("ping", ["-c", "1", host], onResult);

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

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Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 29, 2026, 11:56 AM UTC

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