CVE-2026-76227 renovatebot CVE debrief

Who should care

Defenders responsible for Renovate deployments, especially those with insider or outside threat concerns, should assess exposure and prioritize remediation. This includes reviewing configurations, verifying exposure, and applying updates or mitigations. Security teams and vulnerability management teams should also review the vulnerability and its potential impact on their environments.

Why it matters

CVE-2026-76227 allows insider or outside attackers to exfiltrate secrets accessible to the Renovate deployment. Defenders should prioritize verifying exposure in their Renovate deployments, especially where insider or outside threats may be present.

• Verify exposure in Renovate deployments by checking versions and configurations.
• Restrict environment variables to an allowlist for child processes in Renovate.
• Monitor Renovate process environment variables for suspicious access or exfiltration.

Technical summary

Renovate versions from 42.68.1 before 42.96.3 and from 43.0.0 before 43.4.4 fail to restrict environment variables to an allowlist when spawning child processes. This allows child processes to gain full access to all environment variables of the Renovate process, potentially leading to secret exfiltration. The vulnerability affects Renovate deployments, especially those with insider or outside threat concerns. Defenders should prioritize verifying exposure in their Renovate deployments. The CVE record and NVD entry provide details on the vulnerability.

Defensive priority

Defenders should prioritize verifying exposure in their Renovate deployments, especially where insider or outside threats may be present.

Recommended defensive actions

• Verify exposure in Renovate deployments by checking versions and configurations.
• Restrict environment variables to an allowlist for child processes in Renovate.
• Monitor Renovate process environment variables for suspicious access or exfiltration.
• Update Renovate to version 42.96.3 or later, or 43.4.4 or later.
• Review compensating controls for exposed systems while remediation is scheduled and verified.
• Check relevant monitoring, detection, and logs for exposed assets that need extra review.
• Track exceptions, retest remediated assets, and close the item only after evidence is documented.

Evidence notes

The CVE record and NVD entry provide details on the vulnerability in Renovate versions from 42.68.1 before 42.96.3 and from 43.0.0 before 43.4.4. The vulnerability allows child processes to gain full access to all environment variables of the Renovate process.

Sources and references

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.