CVE-2026-40153: PraisonAIAgents Affected by Environment Variable Secret Exfiltration via os.path.expandvars() Bypassing shell=False in Shell Tool

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2026-04-09 · updated 2026-10-26
Weakness: CWE-526

Description

PraisonAIAgents is a multi-agent teams system. Prior to 1.5.128, the execute_command function in shell_tools.py calls os.path.expandvars() on every command argument at line 64, manually re-implementing shell-level environment variable expansion despite using shell=False (line 88) for security. This allows exfiltration of secrets stored in environment variables (database credentials, API keys, cloud access keys). The approval system displays the unexpanded $VAR references to human reviewers, creating a deceptive approval where the displayed command differs from what actually executes. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.5.128.

Affected products

MervinPraison praisonaiagents: before 1.5.128 — fixed in 1.5.128

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: MervinPraison praisonaiagents 1.5.128. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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