CVE-2026-24516: DigitalOcean Droplet Agent Command Injection Vulnerability
HIGHCVE-2026-24516 is a HIGH (CVSS 8.8) command injection vulnerability (CWE-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection')) affecting DigitalOcean Droplet Agent libraries in the Go ecosystem. The issue involves command injection via metadata service endpoint. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.
CVE-2026-24516 at a Glance
Security Impact
CVSS: 8.8
The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
How to Fix CVE-2026-24516
To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected DigitalOcean Droplet Agent dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.
Upgrade github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agent to Latest secure releaseRun the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:
inspect dependencies for github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agentHow to Check if You Are Affected
To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2026-24516, inspect your project dependencies for DigitalOcean Droplet Agent:
inspect dependencies for github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agentAnalyze the terminal output to locate any version of DigitalOcean Droplet Agent in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), 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 CWE-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection'), where the product constructs all or part of a command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended command when it is sent to a downstream component. In DigitalOcean Droplet Agent, 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
CVE-2026-24516 Affected DigitalOcean Droplet Agent Versions
1 component(s)| Product / Package | Ecosystem | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|---|
|
github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agent
|
Go |
≤ 0.0.0-20260107162243-1101ffcb5672
|
|
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2026-24516?
Which DigitalOcean Droplet Agent versions are affected?
What version fixes CVE-2026-24516?
Is github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agent affected?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-24516?
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-24516?
How can I check Go dependencies for CVE-2026-24516?
Machine-readable OSV JSON
OSV v1.5 Schema
{
"schema_version" : "1.4.0",
"id" : "GHSA-fh3m-562m-w4f6",
"modified" : "2026-03-25T22:05:11Z",
"published" : "2026-03-23T18:30:31Z",
"aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-24516" ],
"summary" : "DigitalOcean Droplet Agent: Command Injection via Metadata Service Endpoint",
"details" : "A command injection vulnerability exists in DigitalOcean Droplet Agent through 1.3.2. The troubleshooting actioner component (internal/troubleshooting/actioner/actioner.go) processes metadata from the metadata service endpoint and executes commands specified in the TroubleshootingAgent.Requesting array without adequate input validation. While the code validates that artifacts exist in the validInvestigationArtifacts map, it fails to sanitize the actual command content after the \"command:\" prefix. This allows an attacker who can control metadata responses to inject and execute arbitrary OS commands with root privileges. The attack is triggered by sending a TCP packet with specific sequence numbers to the SSH port, which causes the agent to fetch metadata from http://169.254.169.254/metadata/v1.json. \n\nThe vulnerability affects the command execution flow in internal/troubleshooting/actioner/actioner.go (insufficient validation), internal/troubleshooting/command/exec.go (direct exec.CommandContext call), and internal/troubleshooting/command/command.go (command parsing without sanitization). This can lead to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, and potential lateral movement across cloud infrastructure.",
"severity" : [ {
"type" : "CVSS_V3",
"score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
} ],
"affected" : [ {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Go",
"name" : "github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agent"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"last_affected" : "0.0.0-20260107162243-1101ffcb5672"
} ]
} ]
} ],
"references" : [ {
"type" : "ADVISORY",
"url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-24516"
}, {
"type" : "PACKAGE",
"url" : "https://github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agent"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agent/blob/main/internal/troubleshooting/actioner/actioner.go"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agent/blob/main/internal/troubleshooting/command/command.go"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/digitalocean/droplet-agent/blob/main/internal/troubleshooting/command/exec.go"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/poxsky/CVE-2026-24516-DigitalOcean-RCE"
} ],
"database_specific" : {
"cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-77" ],
"severity" : "HIGH",
"github_reviewed" : true,
"github_reviewed_at" : "2026-03-25T22:05:11Z",
"nvd_published_at" : "2026-03-23T17:16:37Z"
}
}