PYSEC-2026-4013

vendorUSosv

virtualenv bash and fish activation scripts execute commands embedded in paths

view advisory published 2026-09-18Licence: CC-BY-4.0

The generated `activate` (bash/zsh) and `activate.fish` scripts interpolate a `shlex.quote`-ed value into a position that quotes it a second time. The extra quotes terminate the quoted run early and leave part of the value parsed as shell code, so a path containing shell metacharacters runs commands when a user sources the activation script. `activate` is affected through the virtual environment's own path, on the branch that reports a relocated environment (`Virtual environment directory __VIRTUAL_ENV__ does not exist!`). For a destination named `x'$(id)'y`, `shlex.quote` emits `'x'"'"'$(id)'"'"'y'`; the inner `"` closes the enclosing double quote and `$(id)` is left unquoted. This branch runs whenever the recorded path is absent, which is the normal case for a virtual environment copied or distributed to another machine. `activate.fish` is affected through the interpreter's Tcl/Tk library paths (`set -gx TCL_LIBRARY '__TCL_LIBRARY__'`). The rendered line becomes `''/tcl/(cmd)/lib''`, and fish expands the `(cmd)` left between the adjacent quoted runs. The same doubling splits a path containing a space into two list elements, corrupting `TCL_LIBRARY` and `TK_LIBRARY`. This is the same defect class as GHSA-x78j-v8h9-3j2q, which covered `activate.bat`. Fixed in 21.7.13 by moving the placeholders outside the surrounding quotes, so each value keeps only the quoting `shlex.quote` applied.

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describes (1)

Related CVEs.

IDseverity exploitable
CVE-2026-102925US——
virtualenv is a tool for creating isolated virtual python environments. Prior to 21.7.13, the generated activate (bash and zsh) and activate.fish scripts place values already escap…
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