GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5

agentic-flow versions <= 2.0.13 MCP server tools interpolated attacker-influenceable tool parameters (e.g. agent, task, name, language, agentdb arguments) directly into shell command strings passed to execSync(). A malicious value reaching any of the affected MCP tools could break out of the surrounding double-quoted argument and execute arbitrary OS commands with the privileges of the user running the MCP server.

This was a partial-fix gap: prior commit 6a06854 (#158) fixed CWE-78 elsewhere in the project but missed the MCP server files entirely.

Affected components

• src/mcp/standalone-stdio.ts, agentic_flow_agent, agentic_flow_create_agent, agentic_flow_list_all_agents, agentic_flow_agent_info, agentic_flow_check_conflicts, agentic_flow_optimize_model, agentic_flow_list_agents, agent_booster_edit_file, agent_booster_batch_edit, agent_booster_parse_markdown, agentdb_stats, agentdb_pattern_store, agentdb_pattern_search, agentdb_pattern_stats
• src/mcp/fastmcp/servers/claude-flow-sdk.ts
• src/mcp/fastmcp/servers/stdio-full.ts
• src/mcp/fastmcp/servers/http-streaming-updated.ts
• src/mcp/fastmcp/servers/http-sse.ts
• src/mcp/fastmcp/servers/poc-stdio.ts
• src/mcp/fastmcp/tools/agent/{execute,list,parallel}.ts
• src/mcp/fastmcp/tools/swarm/orchestrate.ts
• src/mcp/fastmcp/tools/hooks/pretrain.ts (depth path only)

Proof of Concept

// Pre-fix (standalone-stdio.ts, agentic_flow_agent)
let cmd = `npx --yes agentic-flow --agent "${agent}" --task "${task}"`;
const result = execSync(cmd, { encoding: 'utf-8', ... });

Invoking the MCP tool with:

{
  "agent": "coder",
  "task": "x\"; touch /tmp/INJECTED; id > /tmp/rce.txt; echo \""
}

produces, after interpolation:

npx --yes agentic-flow --agent "coder" --task "x"; touch /tmp/INJECTED; id > /tmp/rce.txt; echo ""

When execSync hands that to /bin/sh -c, the shell parses three commands: the truncated npx, then touch /tmp/INJECTED, then id > /tmp/rce.txt; echo "". The marker file /tmp/INJECTED is created and the user's id output is written to /tmp/rce.txt.

Workarounds

Upgrade to agentic-flow >= 2.0.14. There is no in-product configuration that mitigates this without upgrading.

Downstream pin

The ruflo / claude-flow / @claude-flow/cli packages bumped from 3.12.3 → 3.12.4 to pull the patched agentic-flow:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]
• @claude-flow/[email protected]

End users running any of npx ruflo@latest, npx claude-flow@latest, or npx @claude-flow/cli@latest are pinned to the fixed version.

Credit

Reported by hackchang via a well-scoped red-team report package (npm_agentic-flow_report_package_20260618_163017.zip) that included a sink inventory, a minimized PoC payload, and a clear explanation of why this was a partial-fix gap rather than intended behaviour. The sink inventory directly drove the single-grep pass that closed every reachable call site; the PoC payload became the behavioural smoke test that proves the canonical attack stays inert as an argv element.

Any MCP tool argument that the AI agent treats as data but the implementation interpolates into a shell command string becomes a command-injection vector. In MCP deployments where untrusted content (web pages, files, third-party tool output) is processed by the agent, this is reachable without direct attacker access to the host. The HTTP/SSE transports (http-sse.ts, http-streaming-updated.ts) expose the same sinks without authentication or Origin/Host validation, which may raise the effective severity in any deployment that binds them to a reachable network interface.

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

GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5 has a CVSS score of 8.8 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and user interaction required. 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 (2.0.14); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

Fixed in [email protected], every affected call site rewritten to use execFileSync(file, argv, { shell: false }) so attacker-controlled argv elements are passed straight to execve(2) without shell parsing.

Fix PR: ruvnet/agentic-flow#170 (merged at 0c2ec96)

A regression test (tests/security/cwe-78-mcp-execsync.test.ts) was added that statically scans every src/mcp/**/*.ts file and fails the build if any new execSync() call is reintroduced outside of a documented exemption, plus a behavioural smoke check that the canonical PoC payload remains inert when passed as an argv element to execFileSync.

1. What is GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5? GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5 is a high-severity OS command injection vulnerability in agentic-flow (npm), affecting versions <= 2.0.13. It is fixed in 2.0.14. Untrusted input reaches a shell command, allowing arbitrary commands to run on the host.
2. How severe is GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5? GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5 has a CVSS score of 8.8 (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 agentic-flow are affected by GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5? agentic-flow (npm) versions <= 2.0.13 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5? Yes. GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5 is fixed in 2.0.14. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether GHSA-VCV2-R9JH-99M5 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-VCV2-R9JH-99M5 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-VCV2-R9JH-99M5? Upgrade agentic-flow to 2.0.14 or later.