CVE-2026-24844 melange pipeline working-directory could allow command injection
Attackers providing build inputs can execute arbitrary shell commands via unescaped working-directory substitutions in melange pipelines.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-24844?
CVE-2026-24844 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in chainguard-dev melange, published on 4 Feb 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
melange allows users to build apk packages using declarative pipelines. From version 0.3.0 to before 0.40.3, an attacker who can provide build input values, but not modify pipeline definitions, could execute arbitrary shell commands if the pipeline uses ${{vars.*}} or ${{inputs.*}} substitutions in working-directory. The field is embedded into shell scripts without proper quote escaping. This issue has been patched in version 0.40.3.
Weakness: CWE-78
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-24844?
3 open source packages ship an affected version, including chainguard.dev/melange. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
chainguard.dev/melange Go | From 0.3.0 | 0.40.3 |
chainguard.dev/melange Go | From 0.3.0 | 0.40.3 |
chainguard.dev/melange Go | From 0.3.0 | 0.40.3 |
Products include Chainguard Melange.
How do I fix CVE-2026-24844?
Upgrade chainguard.dev/melange to 0.40.3 or later.
Upgrade, and pass arguments to programs as a list instead of through a shell. More about Command injection.
Is CVE-2026-24844 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-24844 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in chainguard-dev melange
- CVE-2026-24843 melange QEMU runner could write files outside workspace directory
- CVE-2026-25143 melange affected by potential host command execution via license-check YAML mode patch pipeline
- CVE-2026-29050 melange has Path Traversal When Resolving External Pipelines via Unvalidated pipeline[].uses
- CVE-2026-25145 melange has a path traversal in license-path which allows reading files outside workspace
- CVE-2026-29051 melange has Path Traversal via .PKGINFO in --persist-lint-results
Sources
Also known as GHSA-vqqr-rmpc-hhg2, GO-2026-4408.