Potential Command Injection in shell-quote

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

9.8 · CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

• CVE-2016-10541: 2.22% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 82.66 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Affected versions of shell-quote do not properly escape command line arguments, which may result in command injection if the library is used to escape user input destined for use as command line arguments. Proof of Concept: The following characters are not escaped properly: ,;,{,} Bash has a neat but not well known feature known as "Bash Brace Expansion", wherein a sub-command can be executed without spaces by running it between a set of {} and using the , instead of to seperate arguments. Because of this, full command injection is possible even though it was initially thought to be impossible. Recommendation Update to version 1.6.1 or later.

Published by the source

18 Feb 2019, 23:58 UTC

Last modified by the source

10 Sep 2026, 03:48 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 12:21 UTC

1. Revision 2 · amended · 26 Oct 2026

   Amended from ghsa record GHSA-qg8p-v9q4-gh34

2. Revision 1 · created · 24 Oct 2026

   Published from osv record GHSA-qg8p-v9q4-gh34

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2016-10541

Advisory: Potential Command Injection in shell-quote
IDs: CVE-2016-10541, GHSA-qg8p-v9q4-gh34
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2016-10541 (revision 2, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 12:21 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Critical (CVSS 9.8)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: shell-quote 1.6.1. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- npm shell-quote: affected < 1.6.1; fixed in 1.6.1

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- `npm ls shell-quote --all`: lists every installed copy and version, including transitive ones. Run in the project root after `npm ci`.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on shell-quote.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-qg8p-v9q4-gh34 (OSV record GHSA-qg8p-v9q4-gh34 lists affected ranges: npm shell-quote >=0 <1.6.1 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-qg8p-v9q4-gh34 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-qg8p-v9q4-gh34 lists affected ranges: npm shell-quote >=0 <1.6.1)

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