Vulnerabilities in pkg:npm/shescape
PACKAGECVE-2026-73414 is a CRITICAL shell injection vulnerability (CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')) affecting Shescape libraries in the npm ecosystem. The issue involves shell injection via unescaped parentheses on windows with cmd. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.1.14, 3.0.1.
pkg:npm/shescape
Vulnerability advisories affecting package pkg:npm/shescape. Select an advisory below to view technical details or fixes.
| Advisory ID | CVE / NVD | Severity | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| GHSA-w4hw-qcx7-56pr | CVE-2026-73414 | CRITICAL | Shescape: Shell injection via unescaped parentheses on Windows with CMD |
| GHSA-gm3r-q2wp-hw87 | CVE-2026-73413 | HIGH | Shescape: Quadratic-time denial of service in the flag-protection |
| GHSA-6v4m-fw66-8r4x | CVE-2026-73412 | MODERATE | Shescape: Path disclosure on Unix with Zsh |
| GHSA-q53c-4prm-w95q | CVE-2026-73411 | MODERATE | Shescape: Home-directory disclosure in assignment context on Unix with Dash |
| GHSA-6f6w-6j58-rq76 | CVE-2026-30916 | LOW | Withdrawn Advisory: Shescape has possible misidentification of shell due to link chains |
| GHSA-9jfh-9xrq-4vwm | CVE-2026-32094 | MODERATE | Shescape escape() leaves bracket glob expansion active on Bash, BusyBox, and Dash |
| GHSA-66pp-5p9w-q87j | CVE-2025-30222 | LOW | Shescape has potential environment variable exposure on Windows with CMD |
| GHSA-j55r-787p-m549 | CVE-2023-40185 | HIGH | Shescape on Windows escaping may be bypassed in threaded context |
| GHSA-3g7p-8qhx-mc8r | CVE-2023-35931 | LOW | Shescape potential environment variable exposure on Windows with CMD |
| GHSA-cr84-xvw4-qx3c | CVE-2022-25918 | HIGH | Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity in shescape |
| GHSA-44vr-rwwj-p88h | CVE-2022-31180 | CRITICAL | Shescape vulnerable to insufficient escaping of whitespace |
| GHSA-jjc5-fp7p-6f8w | CVE-2022-31179 | HIGH | Shescape prior to 1.5.8 vulnerable to insufficient escaping of line feeds for CMD |
| GHSA-446w-rrm4-r47f | CVE-2022-24725 | MODERATE | Exposure of home directory through shescape on Unix with Bash |
| GHSA-f2rp-38vg-j3gh | CVE-2021-21384 | HIGH | Null characters not escaped |
CVE-2026-73414 at a Glance
How to Fix CVE-2026-73414
To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Shescape dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.
npm install shescape@2.1.14
npm install shescape@3.0.1
Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:
npm ls shescape
How to Check if You Are Affected
To determine whether your Node.js application is affected by CVE-2026-73414, inspect your project dependencies using npm:
npm ls shescape
Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Shescape in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.1.14), your application is affected.
Note: The npm ls shescape command inspects dependencies declared in your package.json and lockfile; it does not perform automated runtime dynamic scanning.
Technical Details
Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection'), where the product constructs all or part of an os command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended os command when it is sent to a downstream component. In Shescape, 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-2026-73414 Affected Shescape Versions
2 component(s)| Product / Package | Ecosystem | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|---|
|
shescape
|
npm |
< 2.1.14
|
2.1.14
|
|
shescape
|
npm |
≥ 3.0.0
< 3.0.1
|
3.0.1
|
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2026-73414?
Which Shescape versions are affected?
What version fixes CVE-2026-73414?
Is shescape affected?
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-73414?
How can I check npm dependencies for CVE-2026-73414?
Machine-readable OSV JSON
OSV v1.5 Schema
{
"schema_version" : "1.4.0",
"id" : "GHSA-w4hw-qcx7-56pr",
"modified" : "2026-08-12T19:43:04Z",
"published" : "2026-07-24T22:34:23Z",
"aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-73414" ],
"summary" : "Shescape: Shell injection via unescaped parentheses on Windows with CMD",
"details" : "### Impact\n\nThis impacts users of Shescape on Windows that explicitly configure `shell` to CMD, or `true` with the default shell being CMD, using the `escape` and `escapeAll` APIs.\n\nAn attacker may be able to achieve shell injection depending on the original command.\n\n```javascript\nimport * as cp from \"node:child_process\";\nimport { Shescape } from \"shescape\";\n\n// 1. Prerequisites\nconst options = {\n shell: \"cmd.exe\",\n // Or\n shell: true, // Only if the default shell is CMD\n};\n\n// 2. Payload\nconst payload = \"x) else if a==a (echo y\";\n\n// 3. Usage\nconst shescape = new Shescape(options);\nlet escapedPayload;\n\nescapedPayload = shescape.escape(payload);\n// Or\nescapedPayload = shescape.escapeAll([payload]);\n\n// And (example)\nconst result = cp.execSync(`if defined FALSY (echo ${escapedPayload})`, options);\n\n// 4. Impact\nconsole.log(result.toString());\n// Outputs \"y\" instead of \"\"\n\n```\n\n### Patches\n\nThis bug has been patched in [v2.1.14] and [v3.0.1] which you can upgrade to now.\n\nIf you are already using v3 of Shescape, no further changes are required. If you are using v2 of Shescape is recommended to upgrade as this version reaches end-of-life status on 2026-09-28, follow the [migration guide] to upgrade to v3.\n\nNo patches will be released for version of Shescape lower than v2.0.0.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nAlternatively, users of Shescape can remove all instances of `(` and `)` from untrusted inputs.\n\n### For more information\n\n- Comment on Pull Request [#2651] for v2 and [#2649] for v3\n- Comment on commit [b4b34c3] for v2 and [43d70b5] for v3\n- Open an issue at <https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/issues> (New issue > Question)",
"severity" : [ {
"type" : "CVSS_V4",
"score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
} ],
"affected" : [ {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "npm",
"name" : "shescape"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"fixed" : "2.1.14"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "npm",
"name" : "shescape"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "3.0.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "3.0.1"
} ]
} ]
} ],
"references" : [ {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/security/advisories/GHSA-w4hw-qcx7-56pr"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/pull/2649"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/pull/2651"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/commit/43d70b59d09bbe5c3fd02ef08b3a123e977ed9de"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/commit/b4b34c394e7f9da2775bb75381066b9a228c425f"
}, {
"type" : "PACKAGE",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/blob/dea8893a5877893d8d4923dbf253080e08899e6d/docs/migration.md"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/releases/tag/v2.1.14"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/ericcornelissen/shescape/releases/tag/v3.0.1"
} ],
"database_specific" : {
"cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-150", "CWE-78" ],
"severity" : "CRITICAL",
"github_reviewed" : true,
"github_reviewed_at" : "2026-07-24T22:34:23Z",
"nvd_published_at" : null
}
}