CVE-2026-61668: DIRAC Pilot Code Downloaded Over Unverified Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-vg99-gr89-qhw9
CVSS 8.1
CWE-295
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-61668 is a HIGH (CVSS 8.1) pilot code downloaded over unverified vulnerability (CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation) affecting DIRAC libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves pilot code downloaded over unverified https connection. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 8.0.79, 9.0.22, 9.1.10.

CVE-2026-61668 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-61668
GHSA Identifier GHSA-vg99-gr89-qhw9
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 8.1
CWE Classification CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation
Affected Product DIRAC
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 8.1

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

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2026-61668

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

DIRAC fixed: 8.0.79
pip install DIRAC>=8.0.79
DIRAC fixed: 9.0.22
pip install DIRAC>=9.0.22
DIRAC fixed: 9.1.10
pip install DIRAC>=9.1.10
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

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

pip show DIRAC

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2026-61668, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show DIRAC

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of DIRAC in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 8.0.79), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show DIRAC command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation, where the product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate. In DIRAC, 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

### Summary The second stage pilot (pilot.tar) is downloaded by the initial wrapper script without any verification of the webservers' SSL certificate and the contained script is subsequently executed. The checksum is tested, but the reference checksum file is downloaded over the same unvalidated channel. ### Details The pilot wrapper downloads and executes the main second stage pilot script, but the SSL validation on this connection is explicitly disabled (to match old python < 2.7.9 behaviour): https://github.com/DIRACGrid/DIRAC/blob/integration/src/DIRAC/WorkloadManagementSystem/Utilities/PilotWrapper.py#L292-L296 This means that the second stage pilot code is not verified in any way and could potentially be altered by a man-in-the-middle attack to execute arbitrary code in the pilot context (i.e. with access to the pilot proxy/credentials). The HTTPS connection should be validated against both the system certificates and $X509_CERT_DIR and fail if neither validate correctly. ### Impact This would require a man-in-the-middle style attack against a grid site's network (i.e. changing the DNS or routing to redirect the pilot's connection); this is likely to be difficult which probably limits the potential impact. ### Patched versions: https://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/8.0.79/ https://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/9.0.22/ https://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/9.1.10/

CVE-2026-61668 Affected DIRAC Versions

3 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
8.0.799.0.229.1.10
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
DIRAC
PyPI
≥ 6.20.1
< 8.0.79
8.0.79
DIRAC
PyPI
≥ 8.1.0a1
< 9.0.22
9.0.22
DIRAC
PyPI
≥ 9.1.0
< 9.1.10
9.1.10

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-61668?
CVE-2026-61668 is a security vulnerability in DIRAC involving Pilot code downloaded over unverified HTTPS connection under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation.
Which DIRAC versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 8.0.79, 9.0.22, 9.1.10 across affected packages: DIRAC.
What version fixes CVE-2026-61668?
Upgrading to 8.0.79, 9.0.22, 9.1.10 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is DIRAC affected?
Yes, DIRAC is affected in releases prior to 8.0.79, 9.0.22, 9.1.10. Upgrade your dependency to 8.0.79, 9.0.22, 9.1.10 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-61668?
CVE-2026-61668 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-61668?
CVE-2026-61668 is classified under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation (The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2026-61668?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show DIRAC'. 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-vg99-gr89-qhw9",
  "modified" : "2026-07-13T18:37:51Z",
  "published" : "2026-07-13T18:37:51Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-61668" ],
  "summary" : "DIRAC: Pilot code downloaded over unverified HTTPS connection",
  "details" : "### Summary\nThe second stage pilot (pilot.tar) is downloaded by the initial wrapper script without any verification of the webservers' SSL certificate and the contained script is subsequently executed. The checksum is tested, but the reference checksum file is downloaded over the same unvalidated channel.\n\n### Details\nThe pilot wrapper downloads and executes the main second stage pilot script, but the SSL validation on this connection is explicitly disabled (to match old python < 2.7.9 behaviour):\nhttps://github.com/DIRACGrid/DIRAC/blob/integration/src/DIRAC/WorkloadManagementSystem/Utilities/PilotWrapper.py#L292-L296\n\nThis means that the second stage pilot code is not verified in any way and could potentially be altered by a man-in-the-middle attack to execute arbitrary code in the pilot context (i.e. with access to the pilot proxy/credentials).\n\nThe HTTPS connection should be validated against both the system certificates and $X509_CERT_DIR and fail if neither validate correctly.\n\n### Impact\nThis would require a man-in-the-middle style attack against a grid site's network (i.e. changing the DNS or routing to redirect the pilot's connection); this is likely to be difficult which probably limits the potential impact.\n\n### Patched versions:\nhttps://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/8.0.79/\nhttps://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/9.0.22/\nhttps://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/9.1.10/",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
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      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "DIRAC"
    },
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      "events" : [ {
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  }, {
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  }, {
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    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/DIRACGrid/DIRAC/security/advisories/GHSA-vg99-gr89-qhw9"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/DIRACGrid/DIRAC"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/8.0.79"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/9.0.22"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://pypi.org/project/DIRAC/9.1.10"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-295" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-07-13T18:37:51Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : null
  }
}