CVE-2026-44971

The programmatic remote project scanning path rewrites attacker-controlled repository URLs using a blind string replacement and then sends the caller's GitHub credentials with the resulting request. This allows an attacker who can influence the scanned repository URL to trigger SSRF and capture the GH_TOKEN used by GuardDog.

Description

ProjectScanner.scan_remote() takes a url, branch, and requirements_name, then constructs a raw GitHub URL by calling:

githubusercontent_url = url.replace("github", "raw.githubusercontent")
req_url = f"{githubusercontent_url}/{branch}/{requirements_name}"
resp = requests.get(url=req_url, auth=token)

Because this logic does not parse or validate the hostname, a crafted URL such as:

http://[email protected]:18081/owner/repo

is transformed into:

http://[email protected]:18081/owner/repo/main/requirements.txt

Requests interprets this as an HTTP request to 127.0.0.1:18081, and GuardDog includes the configured GitHub credentials via HTTP Basic Auth.

Reproduction summary

1. Start an HTTP listener on 127.0.0.1:18081 that logs the request path and Authorization header.
2. Set GIT_USERNAME=alice and GH_TOKEN=supersecret.
3. Call PypiRequirementsScanner().scan_remote("http://[email protected]:18081/owner/repo", "main", "requirements.txt").
4. Observe a request to /owner/repo/main/requirements.txt with Authorization: Basic YWxpY2U6c3VwZXJzZWNyZXQ=.

Key code paths

• guarddog/scanners/scanner.py:361-365

Practical impact

This can expose repository-scanning infrastructure to:

• theft of the GitHub PAT configured in GH_TOKEN
• SSRF to internal or localhost services reachable by the scanner
• attacker-controlled dependency file content returned by the malicious endpoint

Prior public disclosure check

As of 2026-03-18, no matching public GitHub advisory, CVE, or public repo issue was found for this specific bug.

Untrusted input controls the target URL of a server-initiated request, which may reach internal services not otherwise accessible from outside. Typical impact: access to internal metadata services, internal APIs, or cloud credentials.

CVE-2026-44971 has a CVSS score of 8.2 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.

Kodem intelligence

Parse the input URL, require hostname == "github.com", validate the path shape (owner/repo), build the raw URL from parsed components instead of string replacement, and never send GitHub credentials to non-GitHub hosts.

1. What is CVE-2026-44971? CVE-2026-44971 is a high-severity server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in guarddog (pip), affecting versions >= 1.0.0, <= 2.9.0. No fixed version is listed yet. Untrusted input controls the target URL of a server-initiated request, which may reach internal services not otherwise accessible from outside.
2. How severe is CVE-2026-44971? CVE-2026-44971 has a CVSS score of 8.2 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of guarddog are affected by CVE-2026-44971? guarddog (pip) versions >= 1.0.0, <= 2.9.0 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2026-44971? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2026-44971 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
5. Is CVE-2026-44971 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-44971 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2026-44971 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2026-44971? No fixed version is listed yet. In the interim: Validate and restrict destination URLs against an allowlist. Block requests to private IP ranges and cloud metadata endpoints.