{"id":"GHSA-qrr6-mg7r-m243","aliases":["CVE-2026-41570"],"title":"PHPUnit has Argument injection via newline in PHP INI values that are forwarded to child processes","titleSource":"OSV","descriptionSource":"OSV","declaredSeverity":"HIGH","description":"## Impact\n\nPHPUnit forwards PHP INI settings to child processes (used for isolated/PHPT test execution) as `-d name=value` command-line arguments without neutralizing INI metacharacters. Because PHP's INI parser interprets `\"` as a string delimiter, `;` as the start of a comment, and most importantly a newline as a directive separator, a value containing a newline is parsed by the child process as multiple INI directives.\n\nAn attacker able to influence a single INI value can therefore inject arbitrary additional directives into the child's configuration, including `auto_prepend_file`, `extension`, `disable_functions`, `open_basedir`, and others. Setting `auto_prepend_file` to an attacker-controlled path yields remote code execution in the child process.\n\nSources of INI values that participate in the attack:\n\n- `<ini name=\"…\" value=\"…\"/>` entries in `phpunit.xml` / `phpunit.xml.dist`\n- INI settings inherited from the host PHP runtime via `ini_get_all()`\n\n### Threat Model\n\nExploitation requires the attacker to control the content of an INI value read by PHPUnit. In practice this means write access to the project's `phpunit.xml`, the host `php.ini`, or the PHP binary's environment. The most realistic exposure is [Poisoned Pipeline Execution](https://owasp.org/www-project-top-10-ci-cd-security-risks/CICD-SEC-04-Poisoned-Pipeline-Execution) (PPE): a pull request from an untrusted contributor that modifies `phpunit.xml` to include a newline-containing INI value, executed by a CI system that runs PHPUnit against the PR without isolation. A malicious newline is not visibly distinguishable from a legitimate value in a typical diff review.\n\n### Affected component\n\n`PHPUnit\\Util\\PHP\\JobRunner::settingsToParameters()`.\n\n## Patches\n\nThe fix has two parts:\n\n**1. Reject line-break characters**\n\nBecause a newline or carriage return in an INI value has no legitimate use and is the primitive that enables directive injection, any PHP setting value containing `\\n` or `\\r` is now rejected with an explicit `PhpProcessException`. This follows the same \"visibility over silence\" principle applied in [CVE-2026-24765](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/security/advisories/GHSA-vvj3-c3rp-c85p): the anomalous state fails loudly in CI output rather than being silently sanitized, giving operators an opportunity to investigate whether it reflects tampering, environment contamination, or an unexpected upstream change.\n\n**2. Quote remaining metacharacters**\n\nValues containing `\"` or `;`, both of which have legitimate uses (e.g., regex-valued INI settings such as `ddtrace`'s `datadog.appsec.obfuscation_parameter_value_regexp`), are wrapped in double quotes with inner `\"` escaped as `\\\"`, so PHP's INI parser reads them as literal string contents rather than comment/delimiter tokens. Plain values are forwarded unchanged so that boolean keywords (`On`/`Off`) and bitwise expressions (`E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE`) retain their INI semantics.\n\n## Workarounds\n\nIf upgrading is not immediately possible:\n\n- Audit INI values: Ensure no `<ini value=\"…\">` entry in `phpunit.xml` / `phpunit.xml.dist` contains newline, `\"`, or `;` characters, and that nothing writes such values into configuration at build time.\n- Isolate CI execution of untrusted code: Run PHPUnit against pull requests only in ephemeral, containerized runners that discard filesystem state between jobs; require human review before executing PRs from forks; enforce branch protection on workflows that handle secrets (`pull_request_target` and similar). These mitigations apply to the broader PPE risk class and are effective against this vulnerability as well.\n- Restrict who can modify `phpunit.xml`: Treat `phpunit.xml` as security-sensitive in code review, particularly `<ini>` entries.\n- Sanitize host INI: Ensure the host PHP's `php.ini` does not contain values with embedded newlines or unescaped metacharacters.\n\n## References\n\n- Fix: https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/pull/6592\n- Related advisory (same threat class, Poisoned Pipeline Execution): [GHSA-vvj3-c3rp-c85p / CVE-2026-24765](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/security/advisories/GHSA-vvj3-c3rp-c85p)\n- OWASP CI/CD Top 10: [CICD-SEC-04 Poisoned Pipeline Execution](https://owasp.org/www-project-top-10-ci-cd-security-risks/CICD-SEC-04-Poisoned-Pipeline-Execution)\n- CWE-88: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/88.html\n- CWE-93: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/93.html","severity":"high","score":7.8,"published":"2026-04-18T00:59:28.000Z","modified":"2026-05-12T17:10:19.254Z","withdrawn":false,"knownExploited":false,"affected":[{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"phpunit/phpunit","sources":[{"name":"OSV · GHSA-qrr6-mg7r-m243","url":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-qrr6-mg7r-m243"}],"ranges":[{"events":[{"introduced":"12.5.21"},{"fixed":"12.5.22"}],"type":"ECOSYSTEM"}],"versions":["12.5.21"],"fixed":["12.5.22"]},{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"phpunit/phpunit","sources":[{"name":"OSV · GHSA-qrr6-mg7r-m243","url":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-qrr6-mg7r-m243"}],"ranges":[{"events":[{"introduced":"13.1.5"},{"fixed":"13.1.6"}],"type":"ECOSYSTEM"}],"versions":["13.1.5"],"fixed":["13.1.6"]}],"sourceAffected":[],"references":["https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/security/advisories/GHSA-qrr6-mg7r-m243","https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-41570","https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/pull/6592","https://github.com/FriendsOfPHP/security-advisories/blob/master/phpunit/phpunit/CVE-2026-41570.yaml","https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit"],"sources":[{"name":"OSV","id":"GHSA-qrr6-mg7r-m243","modified":"2026-05-12T17:10:19.254538Z","url":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-qrr6-mg7r-m243"}],"assessments":[{"source":"OSV","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","score":7.8}],"products":[],"remediation":[],"kev":{"status":"not-listed","checkedAt":"2026-10-29T01:50:33.295Z"},"coverage":[{"source":"NVD","status":"not-checked"},{"source":"GHSA","status":"not-checked"},{"source":"EUVD","status":"not-checked"},{"source":"EPSS","status":"not-checked"}],"evidence":[]}