Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-66902

RCE

Published
04 August 2026
Modified
26 August 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0044 38th percentile
Risk Priority 71 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-66902 is a critical-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Software Extensions (T1176); ranked at the 38th 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.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Google::Auth versions before 0.06 for Perl run a command named in an external_account credentials JSON via an ungated system call. The Pluggable subclass reads credential_source.executable.command from the credentials JSON and runs it as `system($command)`, a single argument call that passes…

more

the whole string to /bin/sh -c. The executable's environment_variables map from the same JSON is copied into %ENV first. No opt-in gate guards the call. make_creds selects the Pluggable subclass whenever credential_source.executable is present, so the path is reached from the standard Application Default Credentials flow, including a "type": "external_account" configuration read from the file named by GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS. Configurations without credential_source.executable do not select this subclass and do not reach the call. Any caller that builds credentials from a configuration it does not fully control runs the embedded command with the privileges of the application process.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1176 Software Extensions Persistence
Adversaries may abuse software extensions to establish persistent access to victim systems.
T1195.001 Compromise Software Dependencies and Development Tools Initial Access
Adversaries may manipulate software dependencies and development tools prior to receipt by a final consumer for the purpose of data or system compromise.
T1505.004 IIS Components Persistence
Adversaries may install malicious components that run on Internet Information Services (IIS) web servers to establish persistence.
T1505.005 Terminal Services DLL Persistence
Adversaries may abuse components of Terminal Services to enable persistent access to systems.
T1574.006 Dynamic Linker Hijacking Stealth
Adversaries may execute their own malicious payloads by hijacking environment variables the dynamic linker uses to load shared libraries.
T1055 Process Injection Stealth
Adversaries may inject code into processes in order to evade process-based defenses as well as possibly elevate privileges.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-43003Shared CWE-78, CWE-829
CVE-2026-55697Shared CWE-78, CWE-829
CVE-2025-54135Shared CWE-78, CWE-829
CVE-2024-48336Shared CWE-829
CVE-2024-45482Shared CWE-829
CVE-2026-26959Shared CWE-829
CVE-2025-67842Shared CWE-829
CVE-2025-57729Shared CWE-829
CVE-2023-41267Shared CWE-829
CVE-2025-27607Shared CWE-829

Affected Assets

Auth
inferred from references and description; NVD did not file a CPE for this CVE

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 6 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V14.2.3
  • 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.

Requires documented, valid provenance for components, preventing acceptance of code from outside the trusted sphere.

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.

GV.SC-01 partial match
prevents

Supply-chain program directly governs inclusion of third-party executable code.

GV.SC-05 partial match
prevents

Contractual requirements can mandate trusted sources and integrity checks for included functionality.

GV.SC-07 partial match
prevents

Supplier risk assessment explicitly covers risks from their products and libraries.

ID.AM-02 partial match
prevents

Software inventory enables tracking of externally sourced components but does not itself enforce trust.

ID.RA-09 partial match
prevents

Pre-acquisition integrity/authenticity checks directly prevent inclusion of untrusted code.

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.

prevents

By requiring suppliers to propagate security requirements and to disclose component provenance, the control limits the inclusion of functionality obtained from untrusted third-party sources without oversight.

finds

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

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248635 Executable search paths within the initialization files of all local interactive OL 8 users must only contain paths that resolve to the system default or the user's home directory. prevents CWE-829
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271847 OL 9 must be configured so that executable search paths within the initialization files of all local interactive users must only contain paths that resolve to the system default or the users home directory. prevents CWE-829
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204477 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that all local interactive user initialization files executable search paths contain only paths that resolve to the users home directory. prevents CWE-829
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230317 Executable search paths within the initialization files of all local interactive RHEL 8 users must only contain paths that resolve to the system default or the users home directory. prevents CWE-829
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-258050 Executable search paths within the initialization files of all local interactive RHEL 9 users must only contain paths that resolve to the system default or the users home directory. prevents CWE-829
Windows 10 (1 rule)
  • V-220737 Administrative accounts must not be used with applications that access the Internet, such as web browsers, or with potential Internet sources, such as email. prevents CWE-829

References