VulnerabilityDeferred

CVE-2026-85674

A crafted repository can set test-cmd (executed at startup) or lint-cmd (executed on the first file edit), which aider runs through a shell (subprocess with shell=True) without any user confirmation, LLM interaction, or API key.

HIGH 8.5EPSS 0.16%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.16%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

aider (aider-chat) automatically loads a .aider.conf.yml configuration file from the root of the git repository it is launched in. A crafted repository can set test-cmd (executed at startup) or lint-cmd (executed on the first file edit), which aider runs through a shell (subprocess with shell=True) without any user confirmation, LLM interaction, or API key. Consequently, a user who clones and runs aider inside an attacker-supplied repository achieves arbitrary command execution on their machine. The behavior is long-standing and was confirmed on 0.86.3.dev (current main).

CVSS 4.0: 8.5 HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/M
EPSS: 0.16% probability · 6th percentile
CISA KEV: Not listed
Weakness: CWE-94
Source: disclosure@vulncheck.com

References

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.