Arbitrary command execution via arithmetic expansion
Published May 28, 2026 · Updated May 28, 2026
Command injection in Zed before 0.229.0 allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands through bash arithmetic expansion. The terminal tool permission checker tests the raw command against an always_allow regex but overlooks nested command substitution inside $((...)), which bash evaluates after the outer command passes. Exploitation requires user interaction and an attacker able to influence AI agent tool calls, such as through prompt injection in repository files, while the user relies on a terminal command allowlist.
Summary
What happened
Command injection in Zed before 0.229.0 allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands through bash arithmetic expansion. The terminal tool permission checker tests the raw command against an always_allow regex but overlooks nested command substitution inside $((...)), which bash evaluates after the outer command passes. Exploitation requires user interaction and an attacker able to influence AI agent tool calls, such as through prompt injection in repository files, while the user relies on a terminal command allowlist.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-44466
- Published
- May 28, 2026
- Updated
- May 28, 2026
- Vendor
- Zed Industries
- Product
- Zed
- Classifications
- CWE-78, CAPEC-88, T1059.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 28, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 28, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 0.229.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- GitHub advisory arithmetic-expansion proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo