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Fencer Intel
high 7.4

CVE-2026-40153 json

PraisonAIAgents Affected by Environment Variable Secret Exfiltration via os.path.expandvars() Bypassing shell=False in Shell Tool

published 7mo ago modified 14d ago also EUVD-2026-21176 , GHSA-v8g7-9q6v-p3x8 , PYSEC-2026-2953

cvss
7.4
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 20%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

PraisonAIAgents is a multi-agent teams system. Prior to 1.5.128, the execute_command function in shell_tools.py calls os.path.expandvars() on every command argument at line 64, manually re-implementing shell-level environment variable expansion despite using shell=False (line 88) for security. This allows exfiltration of secrets stored in environment variables (database credentials, API keys, cloud access keys). The approval system displays the unexpanded $VAR references to human reviewers, creating a deceptive approval where the displayed command differs from what actually executes. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.5.128.

Patch / fix

  • pypi praisonaiagents 1.5.128
  • praison praisonaiagents 1.5.128

Is CVE-2026-40153 in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
6mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.28% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 20% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/MervinPraison/PraisonAI/security/advisories/GHSA-v8g7-9q6v-p3x8 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
GitHub 3.1 7.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
OSV 3.1 7.4 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
pypi praisonaiagents
<1.5.128
1.5.128

Affected products

  • MervinPraison PraisonAIAgents

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-526 Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in an Environment Variable

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.