What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-44461?

CVE-2026-44461 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.6 (High). CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.0%.

Which versions of Zed Editor are affected by CVE-2026-44461?

Zed code editor versions prior to 0.227.1 contain a remote command execution vulnerability affecting SSH and WSL terminal functionality that allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands on remote…. A patch is available.

How to fix or mitigate CVE-2026-44461?

24 hours: Audit all Zed installations and document versions in use across development teams. 7 days: Upgrade all systems to Zed 0.227.1 or later, prioritizing developers with active SSH/WSL remote terminal usage. 30 days: Verify upgrade completion, review project settings on shared development projects for suspicious environment variables, and audit access controls on collaborative projects.

Zed Editor CVE-2026-44461

EUVD-2026-32936 HIGH

OS Command Injection (CWE-78)

2026-05-28 GitHub_M

Command Injection Zed

8.6

CVSS 3.1 · GitHub Advisory

Severity by source

GitHub Advisory PRIMARY

8.6 HIGH

AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from GitHub Advisory · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

Required

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Lifecycle Timeline

Patch available

May 28, 2026 - 18:02 EUVD

Analysis Generated

May 28, 2026 - 17:21 vuln.today

DescriptionGitHub Advisory

Zed is a code editor. Prior to 0.227.1, Zed builds SSH/WSL remote commands as a shell command string that starts with exec env ..., but environment variable keys are inserted without shell quoting or validation. If an attacker can control an environment variable key (for example via project terminal settings), shell expansions in the key (such as $(...)) are evaluated by the remote shell when a terminal is opened. This can lead to arbitrary command execution on the remote host under the victim user's account. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.227.1.

AnalysisAI

Remote command execution in Zed code editor versions prior to 0.227.1 occurs when opening SSH or WSL remote terminals because environment variable keys are passed into a shell command string without quoting or validation. An attacker who can influence project terminal settings (for example, through a shared or malicious project) can embed shell expansions such as $(...) into env var keys, achieving arbitrary command execution on the remote host as the victim user when they open a terminal. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, but the issue is fixed in Zed 0.227.1.

Technical ContextAI

Zed is a collaborative, multi-developer code editor from Zed Industries (CPE cpe:2.3:a:zed-industries:zed) that supports executing terminals on remote targets over SSH and Windows Subsystem for Linux. To launch a remote terminal, Zed constructs a shell command string of the form 'exec env KEY=VALUE ... <cmd>'. The root cause maps to CWE-78 (OS Command Injection): while the values may be handled, the environment variable keys themselves are concatenated into the command string without shell quoting or character whitelisting, so any shell metacharacters or command substitutions embedded in a key are evaluated by the remote shell at terminal launch time.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: Zed 0.227.1 - upgrade all Zed installations to 0.227.1 or later as the primary fix, per the advisory at https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/security/advisories/GHSA-63qj-jc2q-7hg5. Until upgrade is possible, avoid opening untrusted or shared projects in Zed and, for projects you must open, inspect and remove any custom env entries in terminal/project settings before launching SSH or WSL terminals; treat project-level configuration files (e.g., .zed/ workspace settings committed in a repo) as executable content. As an additional compensating control, refrain from opening remote (SSH/WSL) terminals from suspect projects, since the injection only fires when the remote terminal command is constructed - at the cost of losing remote terminal workflow for those projects.