CVE-2024-58266: Shlex Multiple Issues Involving Quote API Vulnerability

LOW
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-r7qv-8r2h-pg27
CVSS 3.2
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2024-58266 is a LOW (CVSS 3.2) multiple issues involving quote api vulnerability (General Security Weakness) affecting Shlex libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves multiple issues involving quote api in shlex. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 1.3.0.

CVE-2024-58266 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2024-58266
GHSA Identifier GHSA-r7qv-8r2h-pg27
Severity LOW
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 3.2
CWE Classification General Security Weakness
Affected Product Shlex
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 3.2

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N).

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Changed (S:C)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity Low (I:L)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2024-58266

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Shlex dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

shlex fixed: 1.3.0
Upgrade shlex to 1.3.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

inspect dependencies for shlex

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2024-58266, inspect your project dependencies for Shlex:

inspect dependencies for shlex

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Shlex in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 1.3.0), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under General Security Weakness. In Shlex, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

## Issue 1: Failure to quote characters Affected versions of this crate allowed the bytes `{` and `\xa0` to appear unquoted and unescaped in command arguments. If the output of `quote` or `join` is passed to a shell, then what should be a single command argument could be interpreted as multiple arguments. This does not *directly* allow arbitrary command execution (you can't inject a command substitution or similar). But depending on the command you're running, being able to inject multiple arguments where only one is expected could lead to undesired consequences, potentially including arbitrary command execution. The flaw was corrected in version 1.2.1 by escaping additional characters. Updating to 1.3.0 is recommended, but 1.2.1 offers a more minimal fix if desired. Workaround: Check for the bytes `{` and `\xa0` in `quote`/`join` input or output. (Note: `{` is problematic because it is used for glob expansion. `\xa0` is problematic because it's treated as a word separator in [specific environments][solved-xa0].) ## Issue 2: Dangerous API w.r.t. nul bytes Version 1.3.0 deprecates the `quote` and `join` APIs in favor of `try_quote` and `try_join`, which behave the same except that they have `Result` return type, returning `Err` if the input contains nul bytes. Strings containing nul bytes generally cannot be used in Unix command arguments or environment variables, and most shells cannot handle nul bytes even internally. If you try to pass one anyway, then the results might be security-sensitive in uncommon scenarios. [More details here.][nul-bytes] Due to the low severity, the behavior of the original `quote` and `join` APIs has not changed; they continue to allow nuls. Workaround: Manually check for nul bytes in `quote`/`join` input or output. ## Issue 3: Lack of documentation for interactive shell risks The `quote` family of functions does not and cannot escape control characters. With non-interactive shells this is perfectly safe, as control characters have no special effect. But if you writing directly to the standard input of an interactive shell (or through a pty), then control characters [can cause misbehavior including arbitrary command injection.][control-characters] This is essentially unfixable, and has not been patched. But as of version 1.3.0, documentation has been added. Future versions of `shlex` may add API variants that avoid the issue at the cost of reduced portability. [solved-xa0]: https://docs.rs/shlex/latest/shlex/quoting_warning/index.html#solved-xa0 [nul-bytes]: https://docs.rs/shlex/latest/shlex/quoting_warning/index.html#nul-bytes [control-characters]: https://docs.rs/shlex/latest/shlex/quoting_warning/index.html#control-characters-interactive-contexts-only

CVE-2024-58266 Affected Shlex Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
1.3.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
shlex
crates.io
< 1.3.0
1.3.0

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-58266?
CVE-2024-58266 is a security vulnerability in Shlex involving Multiple issues involving quote API in shlex under General Security Weakness.
Which Shlex versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 1.3.0 across affected packages: shlex.
What version fixes CVE-2024-58266?
Upgrading to 1.3.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is shlex affected?
Yes, shlex is affected in releases prior to 1.3.0. Upgrade your dependency to 1.3.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2024-58266?
CVE-2024-58266 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 3.2 (LOW) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2024-58266?
CVE-2024-58266 is classified under General Security Weakness.
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2024-58266?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for shlex'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-r7qv-8r2h-pg27",
  "modified" : "2025-07-28T15:58:54Z",
  "published" : "2024-01-22T21:21:30Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2024-58266" ],
  "summary" : "Multiple issues involving quote API in shlex",
  "details" : "## Issue 1: Failure to quote characters\n\nAffected versions of this crate allowed the bytes `{` and `\\xa0` to appear unquoted and unescaped in command arguments.\n\nIf the output of `quote` or `join` is passed to a shell, then what should be a single command argument could be interpreted as multiple arguments.\n\nThis does not *directly* allow arbitrary command execution (you can't inject a command substitution or similar).  But depending on the command you're running, being able to inject multiple arguments where only one is expected could lead to undesired consequences, potentially including arbitrary command execution.\n\nThe flaw was corrected in version 1.2.1 by escaping additional characters. Updating to 1.3.0 is recommended, but 1.2.1 offers a more minimal fix if desired.\n\nWorkaround: Check for the bytes `{` and `\\xa0` in `quote`/`join` input or output.\n\n(Note: `{` is problematic because it is used for glob expansion.  `\\xa0` is problematic because it's treated as a word separator in [specific environments][solved-xa0].)\n\n## Issue 2: Dangerous API w.r.t. nul bytes\n\nVersion 1.3.0 deprecates the `quote` and `join` APIs in favor of `try_quote` and `try_join`, which behave the same except that they have `Result` return type, returning `Err` if the input contains nul bytes.\n\nStrings containing nul bytes generally cannot be used in Unix command arguments or environment variables, and most shells cannot handle nul bytes even internally.  If you try to pass one anyway, then the results might be security-sensitive in uncommon scenarios.  [More details here.][nul-bytes]\n\nDue to the low severity, the behavior of the original `quote` and `join` APIs has not changed; they continue to allow nuls.\n\nWorkaround: Manually check for nul bytes in `quote`/`join` input or output.\n\n## Issue 3: Lack of documentation for interactive shell risks\n\nThe `quote` family of functions does not and cannot escape control characters. With non-interactive shells this is perfectly safe, as control characters have no special effect.  But if you writing directly to the standard input of an interactive shell (or through a pty), then control characters [can cause misbehavior including arbitrary command injection.][control-characters]\n\nThis is essentially unfixable, and has not been patched.  But as of version 1.3.0, documentation has been added.\n\nFuture versions of `shlex` may add API variants that avoid the issue at the cost of reduced portability.\n\n[solved-xa0]: https://docs.rs/shlex/latest/shlex/quoting_warning/index.html#solved-xa0\n[nul-bytes]: https://docs.rs/shlex/latest/shlex/quoting_warning/index.html#nul-bytes\n[control-characters]: https://docs.rs/shlex/latest/shlex/quoting_warning/index.html#control-characters-interactive-contexts-only",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "shlex"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.3.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/comex/rust-shlex/security/advisories/GHSA-r7qv-8r2h-pg27"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-58266"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/comex/rust-shlex"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2024-0006.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ ],
    "severity" : "LOW",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-01-22T21:21:30Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}