CVE-2026-44461: Zed: Remote Command Injection via Unquoted Environment Variable Keys (SSH / WSL Remote)

Severity: high (CVSS 8.6 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: 2026-05-28 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-78

Description

Zed is a code editor. Prior to 0.227.1, Zed builds SSH/WSL remote commands as a shell command string that starts with exec env ..., but environment variable keys are inserted without shell quoting or validation. If an attacker can control an environment variable key (for example via project terminal settings), shell expansions in the key (such as $(...)) are evaluated by the remote shell when a terminal is opened. This can lead to arbitrary command execution on the remote host under the victim user's account. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.227.1.

Affected products

zed-industries zed: before 0.227.1 — fixed in 0.227.1

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: zed-industries zed 0.227.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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