Vulnerability Database

355,754

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2026-49255 — electerm

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

Impact

A command injection vulnerability exists in electerm's file system operations (rmrf, mv, cp) in src/app/lib/fs.js. These functions construct shell commands by interpolating file paths directly into command strings without escaping shell metacharacters.

Vulnerable functions:

  • rmrf() - Uses rm -rf "${path}" (double quotes, vulnerable to " injection)
  • mv() - Uses mv '${from}' '${to}' (single quotes, vulnerable to ' injection)
  • cp() - Uses cp -r "${from}" "${to}" (double quotes, vulnerable to " injection)

Attack scenario:

  1. Attacker controls a malicious SSH/SFTP server
  2. Server lists files with shell metacharacters in names (e.g., file"$(touch /tmp/pwned)")
  3. Victim connects to the server and performs file operations (remote-to-local transfer, rename on conflict, etc.)
  4. The malicious filename is passed to rmrf(), mv(), or cp() without sanitization
  5. Shell metacharacters break out of the quoted argument and execute arbitrary commands

Impact includes:

  • Arbitrary command execution as the electerm desktop user
  • Data exfiltration, malware installation, or system compromise
  • Both POSIX (bash) and Windows (PowerShell) platforms are affected

Patches

  • https://github.com/electerm/electerm/commit/aa778818843b9c083bd711cd04644d102fcb5a42

Workarounds

If upgrading is not immediately possible, users can mitigate this vulnerability by:

  1. Only connecting to trusted SSH/SFTP servers
  2. Avoiding remote-to-local file transfers from untrusted sources
  3. Not using the "rename on conflict" option when downloading folders from untrusted servers
  4. Manually verifying filenames before performing file operations

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: High
  • Score: 8.8
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWEs:

OWASP TOP 10:

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.