GHSA-gqw4-4w2p-838qhigh8.8

Composer has a command injection via malicious perforce reference

The advisory, in context

Impact

The Perforce::syncCodeBase() method appended the $sourceReference parameter to a shell command without proper escaping, allowing an attacker to inject arbitrary commands through a crafted source reference containing shell metacharacters. Further as in GHSA-wg36-wvj6-r67p / CVE-2026-40176 the Perforce::generateP4Command() method constructed shell commands by interpolating user-supplied Perforce connection parameters (port, user, client) without proper escaping from the source url field. Composer would execute these injected commands even if Perforce is not installed.

The source reference and url are provided as part of package metadata. Any Composer package repository can serve package metadata declaring perforce as a source type with a malicious source reference or source url. This means the vulnerability can be exploited through any package served by a compromised or malicious Composer repository. An attack does not require Perforce to be installed on the client, as Composer will attempt to execute the constructed command regardless.

This vulnerability is exploitable when installing or updating dependencies from source (--prefer-source, default when installing dev prefixed versions), even if you do not use Perforce.

Patches

Fixed in Composer 2.2.27 (2.2 LTS) and 2.9.6 (mainline)

Note, the fix for the source url in the Perforce::generateP4Command() was addressed as part of the patches for GHSA-wg36-wvj6-r67p / CVE-2026-40176 in the same versions.

Workarounds

Avoid installing dependencies from source by using --prefer-dist or the preferred-install: dist config setting.
Only use trusted Composer repositories.

Affected packages

Start with the recorded fix for your release branch. Check your installed version and test compatibility before upgrading. Fixing this advisory does not rule out other vulnerabilities in the release.

composer/composer Packagist

Ecosystem versions

From 2.3.0 before 2.9.6

Fixed in 2.9.6

63 explicitly affected versions

2.3.0, 2.3.1, 2.3.10, 2.3.2, 2.3.3, 2.3.4, 2.3.5, 2.3.6, 2.3.7, 2.3.8, 2.3.9, 2.4.0, 2.4.0-RC1, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.3, 2.4.4, 2.5.0, 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 2.5.4, 2.5.5, 2.5.6, 2.5.7, 2.5.8, 2.6.0, 2.6.1, 2.6.2, 2.6.3, 2.6.4, 2.6.5, 2.6.6, 2.7.0, 2.7.1, 2.7.2, 2.7.3, 2.7.4, 2.7.5, 2.7.6, 2.7.7, 2.7.8, 2.7.9, 2.8.0, 2.8.1, 2.8.10, 2.8.11, 2.8.12, 2.8.2, 2.8.3, 2.8.4, 2.8.5, 2.8.6, 2.8.7, 2.8.8, 2.8.9, 2.9.0, 2.9.0-RC1, 2.9.1, 2.9.2, 2.9.3, 2.9.4, 2.9.5

View affected-version evidence

{
  "ranges": [
    {
      "events": [
        {
          "introduced": "2.3.0"
        },
        {
          "fixed": "2.9.6"
        }
      ],
      "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
    }
  ],
  "versions": [
    "2.3.0",
    "2.3.1",
    "2.3.10",
    "2.3.2",
    "2.3.3",
    "2.3.4",
    "2.3.5",
    "2.3.6",
    "2.3.7",
    "2.3.8",
    "2.3.9",
    "2.4.0",
    "2.4.0-RC1",
    "2.4.1",
    "2.4.2",
    "2.4.3",
    "2.4.4",
    "2.5.0",
    "2.5.1",
    "2.5.2",
    "2.5.3",
    "2.5.4",
    "2.5.5",
    "2.5.6",
    "2.5.7",
    "2.5.8",
    "2.6.0",
    "2.6.1",
    "2.6.2",
    "2.6.3",
    "2.6.4",
    "2.6.5",
    "2.6.6",
    "2.7.0",
    "2.7.1",
    "2.7.2",
    "2.7.3",
    "2.7.4",
    "2.7.5",
    "2.7.6",
    "2.7.7",
    "2.7.8",
    "2.7.9",
    "2.8.0",
    "2.8.1",
    "2.8.10",
    "2.8.11",
    "2.8.12",
    "2.8.2",
    "2.8.3",
    "2.8.4",
    "2.8.5",
    "2.8.6",
    "2.8.7",
    "2.8.8",
    "2.8.9",
    "2.9.0",
    "2.9.0-RC1",
    "2.9.1",
    "2.9.2",
    "2.9.3",
    "2.9.4",
    "2.9.5"
  ]
}

composer/composer Packagist

Ecosystem versions

From 1.0.0 before 2.2.27

Fixed in 2.2.27

147 explicitly affected versions

1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, 1.1.0, 1.1.0-RC, 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.10.0, 1.10.0-RC, 1.10.1, 1.10.10, 1.10.11, 1.10.12, 1.10.13, 1.10.14, 1.10.15, 1.10.16, 1.10.17, 1.10.18, 1.10.19, 1.10.2, 1.10.20, 1.10.21, 1.10.22, 1.10.23, 1.10.24, 1.10.25, 1.10.26, 1.10.27, 1.10.28, 1.10.3, 1.10.4, 1.10.5, 1.10.6, 1.10.7, 1.10.8, 1.10.9, 1.2.0, 1.2.0-RC, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.4, 1.3.0, 1.3.0-RC, 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 1.4.0, 1.4.1, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 1.5.0, 1.5.1, 1.5.2, 1.5.3, 1.5.4, 1.5.5, 1.5.6, 1.6.0, 1.6.0-RC, 1.6.1, 1.6.2, 1.6.3, 1.6.4, 1.6.5, 1.7.0, 1.7.0-RC, 1.7.1, 1.7.2, 1.7.3, 1.8.0, 1.8.1, 1.8.2, 1.8.3, 1.8.4, 1.8.5, 1.8.6, 1.9.0, 1.9.1, 1.9.2, 1.9.3, 2.0.0, 2.0.0-RC1, 2.0.0-RC2, 2.0.0-alpha1, 2.0.0-alpha2, 2.0.0-alpha3, 2.0.1, 2.0.10, 2.0.11, 2.0.12, 2.0.13, 2.0.14, 2.0.2, 2.0.3, 2.0.4, 2.0.5, 2.0.6, 2.0.7, 2.0.8, 2.0.9, 2.1.0, 2.1.0-RC1, 2.1.1, 2.1.10, 2.1.11, 2.1.12, 2.1.14, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.1.5, 2.1.6, 2.1.7, 2.1.8, 2.1.9, 2.2.0, 2.2.0-RC1, 2.2.1, 2.2.10, 2.2.11, 2.2.12, 2.2.13, 2.2.14, 2.2.15, 2.2.16, 2.2.17, 2.2.18, 2.2.19, 2.2.2, 2.2.20, 2.2.21, 2.2.22, 2.2.23, 2.2.24, 2.2.25, 2.2.26, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, 2.2.6, 2.2.7, 2.2.8, 2.2.9