CVE-2026-45152: uniget: Command Injection in tool.Check Leading to Arbitrary Code Execution

Synopsis

Command injection in uniget (the universal tool installer and updater for container environments) allows an attacker who controls metadata files to execute arbitrary shell commands on the victim's system. The vulnerability is reached locally and requires the victim to perform a common uniget operation such as describe, install, update, or inspect, triggering unsanitized execution of the check field via /bin/bash -c. Successful exploitation gives the attacker full code execution with the privileges of the user running uniget. No fix version has been published yet; HarborGuard tracks this advisory and will surface a patched-image rebuild the moment an upstream fix is released.

HarborGuard Coverage

Exploit Conditions

• Network reachabilityNot required

  The attacker needs an existing shell or process on the host; no network exposure is required to stage the attack.

• AuthenticationNot required

  No account or credential is required; the attack is delivered through a crafted metadata file rather than any authenticated interface.

• Victim interactionRequired

  The victim must run a uniget operation (such as describe, install, update, or inspect) that triggers parsing of the malicious metadata, making this a social-engineering or supply-chain-staging scenario.

• Attack complexityDetail

  The exploit is reliable and condition-free once the malicious metadata is in place; no race conditions or memory-layout dependencies are involved.

Blast Radius

• Reads files and secrets accessible to the user running uniget, including environment variables, SSH keys, and local credential stores.
• Writes or modifies files on the host with the same user's permissions, enabling persistence or tampering with local tooling.
• Executes arbitrary processes on the host, up to and including spawning reverse shells or lateral-movement tools.
• Crashes or corrupts the local uniget installation and any dependent tooling if the injected payload targets those resources.