Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessRoot process invokes sh with _uid
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DeliveryChild sets UID/GID but keeps supplementary groups
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ExploitSubprocess retains docker/shadow/disk membership
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ExecutionAccess privileged group resources
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ImpactEscalate to full host compromise
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Privilege drop verification
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires a Linux/Unix host where a privileged parent process (typically root) invokes sh with the _uid=<unprivileged user> option AND relies on _uid as its privilege boundary, while that root process is itself a member of powerful supplementary groups such as docker, disk, shadow, sudo, or root. The attacker must control the code or command executed in the supposedly-reduced subprocess. Exploitation is limited to sh versions < 2.2.4; it does not apply if _uid is unused, if the parent is not privileged, if the parent carries no sensitive supplementary groups, or on non-Unix platforms. There is no remote or network exposure and no unauthenticated path. |
| Impact | The vendor CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N, 7.9 High) is internally consistent: exploitation is local and low-complexity but requires a high-privilege context (a root parent using _uid), with a scope change reflecting the crossed privilege boundary and high confidentiality/integrity impact. No EPSS score, KEV listing, or POC was provided, so real-world exploitation pressure appears low and opportunistic rather than mass-scale - this is a latent privilege-boundary weakness dangerous only in deployments that specifically use _uid as a security boundary from a privileged parent. The key limiting factor is that a developer must already run sh as root and rely on _uid for isolation; environments not using _uid this way are unaffected. Priority is elevated for container/orchestration tooling that shells out as root but moderate overall given the narrow prerequisite. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A daemon running as root uses sh with _uid to execute a plugin or user-supplied command as an unprivileged account, trusting _uid to sandbox it. Because supplementary groups are never cleared, the command still belongs to the docker group and mounts a container bind-mounting the host filesystem, or belongs to shadow and reads /etc/shadow - achieving full host compromise despite the reduced UID. No public POC is known, but the technique is straightforward for anyone controlling the launched command. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Jul 17, 2026
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.
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.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in pypi
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Technical ContextAI · show details
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.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
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.
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Primary rating from Vendor (https://github.com/amoffat/sh).
CVSS VectorVendor: https://github.com/amoffat/sh
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
Executive ViewAI
The Python 'sh' library prior to version 2.2.4 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability that could allow attackers to bypass access controls and gain unauthorized access to sensitive system resources in containerized or multi-tenant environments. Organizations using vulnerable versions risk data compromise and loss of privilege isolation protections that are security-critical for shared infrastructure.
Apply vendor patch.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
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Same weakness CWE-273 – Improper Check for Dropped Privileges
View allSame technique Information Disclosure
View allVendor 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 |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP7 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications 16.1 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Python 3 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Python 3 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Python 3 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP6-LTSS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Retail Branch Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.3 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP5 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP4-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP5-ESPOS | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP6 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP4 | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Affected |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Affected |
EUVD-2026-61127
GHSA-q38v-wp89-2w55
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
Exploit-DB