# CVE-2026-12542: Foreman: command injection in foreman-tail

> A local attacker can execute arbitrary system commands via OS command injection in the foreman-tail utility due to unsafe eval usage.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 7 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-79jg-9wx4-f5rr

## What is CVE-2026-12542?

CVE-2026-12542 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Redhat Satellite, published on 1 Oct 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in Foreman. The foreman-tail utility is vulnerable to OS command injection due to the unsafe use of the eval command. The script takes user-supplied arguments and incorporates them directly into a string that is then executed by eval to expand file paths. Because the input is not sanitized or quoted, a local attacker can inject shell metacharacters (e.g., ;, &, |) to execute arbitrary system commands.

Weakness: CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-12542?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Redhat Satellite, Theforeman Foreman.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-12542?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-12542 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-12542 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Satellite

- [CVE-2024-7012](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-7012/): Puppet-foreman: an authentication bypass vulnerability exists in foreman (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-7923](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-7923/): Puppet-pulpcore: an authentication bypass vulnerability exists in pulpcore (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-96659](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-96659/): Foreman: excessive permissions for viewer role on preview (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2023-0118](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-0118/): Foreman: arbitrary code execution through templates (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2008-2369](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-2369/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 9.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-12542 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-12542 is a medium-severity command injection vulnerability in Redhat Satellite, published on 1 Oct 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-12542 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Satellite. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12542/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12542/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-12542
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-12542
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-12542

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-12542/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.