virtualenv: Xonsh activation literals depend on the script decoding codec

Summary

CVECVE-2026-113718
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-10-20 20:17:18 UTC
Updated2026-10-20 20:17:18 UTC
Descriptionvirtualenv is a tool for creating isolated virtual python environments. Prior to 21.14.9, POSIX xonsh activation quote() uses repr() to write printable non-ASCII prompt or destination data into UTF-8 activate.xsh, while xonsh can read that script using $XONSH_ENCODING. Under a legacy multibyte codec such as GBK or Big5, a UTF-8 trail byte can consume the backslash before an adjacent quote, allowing the literal to close and attacker-influenced statements to execute when the user sources the generated script. This issue is fixed in version 21.14.9.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v4.0 7.1 HIGH from [email protected]

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/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

Problem Types: CWE-94 | CWE-94 CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
4.0[email protected]Secondary7.1HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C...
4.0CNADECLARED7.1HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS v4.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
High
Attack Requirements
Present
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Active
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Sub Conf.
None
Sub Integrity
None
Sub Availability
None

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Pypa Virtualenv affected < 21.14.9 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/pypa/virtualenv/releases/tag/21.14.9 [email protected] github.com
github.com/pypa/virtualenv/security/advisories/GHSA-394h-qwmc-48pf [email protected] github.com
github.com/pypa/virtualenv/commit/e5fc2e6e189a877ff559af288919e3525d13e5e0 [email protected] github.com
github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3432 [email protected] github.com
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