CVE-2023-36258Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Remote code execution via PALChain prompt injection

Published Jul 3, 2023 · Updated Nov 22, 2024

Code injection in LangChain before 0.0.236 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code through malicious prompts processed by PALChain. PALChain passes LLM-generated Python directly to exec without validating or restricting dangerous operations such as os.system, exec, or eval. Exploitation requires an application to expose attacker-controlled input to PALChain, and injected code runs with the hosting process's privileges.

CVSS severity9.3
Critical
EPSS probability1.07%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Code injection in LangChain before 0.0.236 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code through malicious prompts processed by PALChain. PALChain passes LLM-generated Python directly to exec without validating or restricting dangerous operations such as os.system, exec, or eval. Exploitation requires an application to expose attacker-controlled input to PALChain, and injected code runs with the hosting process's privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-36258
Published
Jul 3, 2023
Updated
Nov 22, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-94, T1059.006
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 3, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Nov 22, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

9.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
9.3GitHub Advisory DatabaseCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-94Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
T1059.006Command and Scripting Interpreter: Python

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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