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sh (Python) CVE-2026-54552

| EUVDEUVD-2026-61127 HIGH
Improper Check for Dropped Privileges (CWE-273)
2026-07-17 https://github.com/amoffat/sh GHSA-q38v-wp89-2w55 PYSEC-2026-3540
Information Disclosure Docker Red Hat
7.9
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: https://github.com/amoffat/sh
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Severity by source

Vendor (https://github.com/amoffat/sh) PRIMARY
7.9 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
vuln.today AI
7.9 HIGH

Local low-complexity attack needing a privileged root parent using _uid (PR:H); the crossed privilege boundary gives S:C with high confidentiality/integrity impact and no availability effect.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N
SUSE
8.2 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Red Hat
7.9 HIGH
qualitative

Primary rating from Vendor (https://github.com/amoffat/sh).

CVSS VectorVendor: https://github.com/amoffat/sh

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
High
User Interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

Lifecycle Timeline

3
Source Code Evidence Fetched
Jul 17, 2026 - 19:16 vuln.today
Analysis Generated
Jul 17, 2026 - 19:16 vuln.today
CVE Published
Jul 17, 2026 - 18:41 github-advisory
HIGH 7.9

DescriptionCVE.org

Impact

The _uid option performed an incomplete privilege drop on Linux/Unix-like systems.

When sh was run from a process with elevated privileges, such as root, and a command was launched with _uid=<unprivileged user>, the child process changed its UID and primary GID but did not reset its supplementary groups. As a result, the child process could retain the parent process’s supplementary groups, potentially including privileged groups such as root, docker, disk, shadow, or sudo.

This could allow a subprocess that was expected to run with reduced privileges to access files or resources available to the original process’s supplementary groups. Users are impacted if they rely on _uid as a privilege boundary when launching commands from a privileged parent process.

Patches

Upgrade to version >= 2.2.4

Workarounds

Avoid using _uid when the user represents a less-privileged user.

Articles & Coverage 1

News 3 New Docker Vulnerabilities - 3 High Severity, 2 With POC Jul 18, 2026

AnalysisAI

Privilege escalation via incomplete privilege drop in the Python 'sh' subprocess library (versions < 2.2.4): when a root/privileged process launches a command with the _uid option, the child changes UID and primary GID but fails to clear the parent's supplementary groups via setgroups(). Any subprocess expected to run unprivileged can therefore retain sensitive parent groups (root, docker, disk, shadow, sudo), reading or writing resources those groups grant. No public exploit identified at time of analysis and it is not in CISA KEV; the fix is confirmed in release 2.2.4.

Technical ContextAI

The 'sh' library (pkg:pip/sh) is a popular Python convenience wrapper that runs external commands as fluent function calls. Its _uid option is meant to launch a child with a reduced identity. On Linux/Unix a full privilege drop requires three syscalls in order: setgroups() to clear supplementary groups, setgid() for the primary GID, then setuid() for the UID. This flaw is CWE-273 (Improper Check for Dropped Privileges): sh set the UID and primary GID but omitted the setgroups() call, so the inherited supplementary group list persisted. Because groups like docker, disk, shadow, and sudo confer powerful host access independent of UID, the residual membership defeats the intended sandbox. The 2.2.4 release notes describe fixing a regression where the correct gid was not set on the launched process.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: 2.2.4 - upgrade the sh dependency to version >= 2.2.4 (pip install --upgrade 'sh>=2.2.4') as the primary fix, per GHSA-q38v-wp89-2w55. If upgrading is not immediately possible, apply the vendor workaround of avoiding _uid when the target user is meant to be less-privileged; instead drop privileges yourself before invoking sh (e.g. call os.initgroups()/os.setgroups([]) then setgid/setuid, or launch via a wrapper that fully clears groups), which removes reliance on the broken path at the cost of extra glue logic. Additionally, minimize the supplementary groups of the privileged parent process (do not run it as a member of docker, disk, shadow, or sudo) so a leaked group list carries no dangerous privileges - the trade-off is that legitimate parent functionality needing those groups must be redesigned.

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Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Important
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Python 3 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 Affected

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CVE-2026-54552 vulnerability details – vuln.today
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