Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-25063

Command Injection in Gradle-Completion ≤ 9.3.0

Published
29 January 2026
Modified
12 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:H/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0069 50th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-25063 is a high-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Gradle Gradle-Completion. Its CVSS base score is 8.3 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked at the 50th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-25063 is a command injection vulnerability (CWE-78, CWE-157) in the gradle-completion package, which provides Bash and Zsh completion support for Gradle. The issue affects versions up to and including 9.3.0, specifically the Bash completion script, which fails to adequately sanitize Gradle task names and task descriptions from a build file. This allows arbitrary code execution when a user triggers Bash tab completion in a project directory containing a malicious Gradle build file, such as one with a task description including a string between backticks that gets evaluated as a command. The Zsh completion is not affected.

Exploitation requires local access with low privileges (CVSS 7.8: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). An attacker with write access to a Gradle project can embed injection payloads in task descriptions, and when a victim user—whose shell sources the vulnerable gradle-completion script—performs tab completion in Bash within that project, the payload executes without the user needing to run any Gradle task explicitly. This leads to high-impact arbitrary code execution on the victim's system.

The vulnerability is patched in gradle-completion version 9.3.1. Advisories recommend upgrading to this version, with the fixing commit available at the Gradle completion GitHub repository. As a workaround, disable Bash completion by removing gradle-completion sourcing from .bashrc or .bash_profile. Additional resources include the GitHub security advisory and Vicarius posts detailing detection and mitigation scripts.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

gradle-completion provides Bash and Zsh completion support for Gradle. A command injection vulnerability was found in gradle-completion up to and including 9.3.0 that allows arbitrary code execution when a user triggers Bash tab completion in a project containing a malicious…

more

Gradle build file. The `gradle-completion` script for Bash fails to adequately sanitize Gradle task names and task descriptions, allowing command injection via a malicious Gradle build file when the user completes a command in Bash (without them explicitly running any task in the build). For example, given a task description that includes a string between backticks, then that string would be evaluated as a command when presenting the task description in the completion list. While task execution is the core feature of Gradle, this inherent execution may lead to unexpected outcomes. The vulnerability does not affect zsh completion. The first patched version is 9.3.1. As a workaround, it is possible and effective to temporarily disable bash completion for Gradle by removing `gradle-completion` from `.bashrc` or `.bash_profile`.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-35946Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2023-35947Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2023-42445Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2026-22865Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2023-30853Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2026-22816Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2023-49238Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2023-26053Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2023-44387Same vendor: Gradle
CVE-2026-56700Shared CWE-78

Affected Assets

gradle
gradle-completion
≤ 9.3.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect command sanitization during development.

Input validation directly neutralizes or rejects special characters that would otherwise alter OS command structure.

Least privilege reduces the permissions available to any process that could be subverted by injected commands.

Least functionality restricts available OS commands and interpreters, limiting the blast radius of injection.

Secure engineering principles require proper neutralization of untrusted input before command construction.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

prevents

Secure development life cycle requires input validation and sanitization practices that mitigate delimiter-handling flaws.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for proper handling of paired delimiters in input processing.

prevents

Secure system architecture principles can guide design choices that reduce delimiter-related parsing risks.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly mandate sanitizing paired delimiters to prevent injection or parsing errors.

References