CVE-2026-54555 rtk-ai CVE debrief

Who should care

Users of rtk versions prior to 0.42.2 should be aware of this vulnerability and take immediate action to upgrade to the patched version. This vulnerability has a high CVSS score of 7.8, indicating a significant risk to affected systems. Security teams and administrators responsible for systems utilizing rtk should prioritize patching to prevent potential command execution attacks.

Technical summary

The vulnerability in rtk allows for command execution due to improper handling of shell constructs in the permission splitter. Specifically, the permission splitter did not conservatively split or reject several shell constructs that Bash treats as command execution boundaries or nested execution. This could allow a command starting with an allowed prefix to hide a second command, which would then execute without proper user confirmation or denial. The issue is addressed in rtk version 0.42.2. The CVSS vector for this vulnerability is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, indicating a high severity.

Defensive priority

This vulnerability has a high CVSS score of 7.8, indicating a significant risk to affected systems. Immediate action should be taken to upgrade to version 0.42.2 or later to prevent potential command execution attacks.

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade to rtk version 0.42.2 or later to patch the vulnerability.
• Review and update permission rules to ensure conservative splitting or rejection of shell constructs.
• Monitor systems for suspicious command execution activity.
• Implement additional security controls to detect and prevent command execution attacks.
• Verify that all rtk configurations and scripts are updated and validated.

Evidence notes

The CVE record and NVD detail provide official information about the vulnerability. The source item URL provides additional context from the NVD database. The reference URL from GitHub provides information about the advisory and patch.

Official resources