SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAwaiting Analysis

CVE-2026-53940

CreatePythonEntryPointAction in conda/core/path_actions.py interpolated that command into target_short_path, and PrefixPathAction.target_full_path joined it to the installation prefix without verifying that the result remained under the intended bin or…

HIGH 8.8EPSS 0.55%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.55%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

Conda is a system-level binary package and environment manager that runs on major operating systems and platforms. Prior to 26.5.2, parse_entry_point_def in conda/common/path/python.py accepted an unvalidated entry-point command from a noarch:python package's info/link.json metadata. CreatePythonEntryPointAction in conda/core/path_actions.py interpolated that command into target_short_path, and PrefixPathAction.target_full_path joined it to the installation prefix without verifying that the result remained under the intended bin or Scripts directory. create_python_entry_point in conda/gateways/disk/create.py then wrote an executable wrapper to the resulting path. A malicious package could use path separators, traversal segments, or an absolute command path to write outside the prefix or overwrite another in-prefix entry point during default install and environment transactions. Out-of-prefix writes require the target parent directory to exist, while an overwritten entry point can execute attacker-controlled Python when later invoked with the installing user's privileges. This issue is fixed in version 26.5.2.

CVSS 3.1
8.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
0.55% probability · 46th percentile
Public exploits
None in Exploit-DB
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-22, CWE-73
Source
security-advisories@github.com
EPSS trend
0%3%5%22 September 2026: 0.42%26 October 2026: 0.55%22 September 202626 October 2026

EPSS moved from 0.4% on 22 September 2026 to 0.5% on 26 October 2026.

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.