GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96

Renovate can be tricked into executing shell code while updating the Gradle Wrapper. A malicious distributionUrl in gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties can lead to command execution in the Renovate runtime.

Details

When Renovate handles Gradle Wrapper artifacts, it may run a wrapper update command such as:

• ./gradlew :wrapper --gradle-distribution-url <value>

In the observed behavior, Renovate executes this via a shell (e.g., /bin/sh -c ...).
If distributionUrl contains shell command substitution syntax like $(...), the shell evaluates it before Gradle validates/parses the URL.

After that, Gradle attempts to parse the URL as a URI and fails with URISyntaxException, but the shell substitution has already executed.

This is reproducible even when allowScripts is disabled (default is OFF), because this execution happens as part of Gradle Wrapper artifact handling rather than “repository install scripts”.

Prerequisites / attack conditions:

• The attacker must be able to get a malicious gradle-wrapper.properties into a repository that Renovate scans (e.g., direct write access, or a maintainer merges an attacker’s change/PR).
• Renovate must be configured to process Gradle Wrapper updates/artifacts for that repository (default behavior for the Gradle Wrapper manager).

PoC

1. Create a repository with a Gradle Wrapper (gradlew, gradlew.bat, gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.jar, and gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties).
2. Set distributionUrl in gradle-wrapper.properties to include $(...).
3. Run Renovate against the repository.
4. Observe that a file is created during Renovate’s wrapper update step before Gradle fails with URISyntaxException.

A screen recording is attached showing end-to-end reproduction. In the demo, the payload creates /tmp/passwd_dump containing /etc/passwd, demonstrating that file read/exfiltration is possible within the Renovate execution context.

This allows arbitrary command execution in the Renovate runtime during Gradle Wrapper updates. Depending on deployment, this may expose credentials/tokens available to the bot and may allow an attacker to modify repositories or access internal resources reachable from the Renovate environment.

Untrusted input reaches a shell command, allowing arbitrary commands to run on the host. Typical impact: code execution in the application's environment.

GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96 has a CVSS score of 6.7 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, high 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. A fixed version is available (42.68.5); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

Upgrading to Renovate 42.68.5 (2025-12-31) fixes this issue, and closes out other risks of shell evaluation for commands run by Renovate.

If using the composer, yarn (v1) or flux managers, please upgrade to 42.74.5 (2026-01-08), as there were follow-up fixes to keep these managers working.

1. What is GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96? GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96 is a medium-severity OS command injection vulnerability in renovate (npm), affecting versions >= 32.124.0, < 42.68.5. It is fixed in 42.68.5. Untrusted input reaches a shell command, allowing arbitrary commands to run on the host.
2. How severe is GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96? GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96 has a CVSS score of 6.7 (Medium). 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 renovate are affected by GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96? renovate (npm) versions >= 32.124.0, < 42.68.5 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96? Yes. GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96 is fixed in 42.68.5. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96 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 GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96 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 GHSA-PFQ2-HH62-7M96? Upgrade renovate to 42.68.5 or later.