virtualenv writes prompt values into pyvenv.cfg without sanitizing line boundaries, allowing configuration injection
`pyvenv.cfg` is a line-based format with no escape syntax. `PyEnvCfg.write()` wrote values verbatim, while `PyEnvCfg._read_values()` parses the file with `str.splitlines()`. A value containing a line boundary therefore became additional configuration lines, and because reading is last-wins, the injected keys replaced any key written earlier in the file. The `prompt` value is the reachable input: it is set by `--prompt`, by the `VIRTUALENV_PROMPT` environment variable, or from the config file, and `write()` emits `prompt` before `home`. A crafted prompt can therefore set `home` in the generated `pyvenv.cfg`. `home` is what tooling reads to locate the base interpreter, so a consumer that trusts it can be pointed elsewhere. `implementation`, `version_info`, `version`, `executable`, `command` and `virtualenv` are also written before `prompt` and can be replaced the same way. This requires the prompt to come from somewhere other than the person running the command, for example a CI job templating a branch name into it, tooling deriving an environment name from user-supplied data, or an inherited `VIRTUALENV_PROMPT`. The boundary set is the one `str.splitlines()` recognizes, which is wider than `\n`: `\r`, `\v`, `\f`, the file, group and record separators, `U+0085`, `U+2028` and `U+2029` were all written through unchanged and all split the line when read back. Fixed in 21.7.11: `PyEnvCfg.write()` now collapses those boundaries to spaces as it serializes each line, so it cannot emit a structurally invalid file regardless of what a caller places in `content`.
describes (1)
Related CVEs.
| ID | severity | exploitable | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-102938US | — | — | ||
virtualenv is a tool for creating isolated virtual python environments. Prior to 21.7.11, PyEnvCfg.write() writes prompt values verbatim to the line-oriented pyvenv.cfg format whil… | ||||
references
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://github.com/pypa/virtualenvPACKAGE
- https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/commit/a30f995461043acb6cacbf3a890951563ccf7140FIX
- https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3247WEB
- https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/releases/tag/21.7.11WEB
- https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/security/advisories/GHSA-9h9j-4vrj-gf7gWEB
- https://pypi.org/project/virtualenvPACKAGE
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