Review reviewHigh

CVE-2026-40261

composer composer, Red Hat Hardened Images

Composer is a dependency manager for PHP. Versions 1.0 through 2.2.26 and 2.3 through 2.9.5 contain a command injection vulnerability in the Perforce::syncCodeBase() method, which appends the $sourceReference parameter to a shell command without proper escaping, and additionally in the Perforce::generateP4Command() method as in GHSA-wg36-wvj6-r67p / CVE-2026-40176, which interpolates user-supplied Perforce connection parameters (port, user, client) from the source url field without proper escaping. An attacker can inject arbitrary commands through crafted source reference or source url valu...

CVSS: 8.8
EPSS: 1.69%
CISA KEV: Not listed
Published: 2026.04.16

PRIORITY ASSESSMENT

Review review

The CVSS severity warrants an early asset and exposure review.

Known exploitationNot established by KEV

Exploit probability1.69%

Technical severityCVSS 8.8

Vulnerability overview

Affected product and versions

Product: composer composer, Red Hat Hardened Images
Affected versions: >= >= 2.3.0, < 2.9.6, >= >= 1.0.0, < 2.2.27, >= 1.0.0 <= 2.2.26, >= 2.3.0 <= 2.9.5
Fixed versions: No verified fixed-version field is available yet

Recommended response sequence

Confirm exposure before applying a vendor-supported change.

Full remediation guide

1
Identify
Confirm that composer composer, Red Hat Hardened Images and an affected version are present.
2
Prioritize
Combine exploitation signals with asset exposure and business criticality.
3
Remediate
Follow the vendor advisory or supported update path and preserve rollback options.
4
Verify
Recheck the version, service health, access paths, and relevant logs.

Technical data

CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE: CWE-20, CWE-78