Executive brief
Fleet is an open-source platform used by IT and security teams to manage and monitor laptops and servers. A vulnerability in how the system handles software installers could allow a malicious software package to take full control of managed computers. If an administrator uploads a specially crafted installer, the system may automatically generate and run malicious scripts with high-level administrative privileges (root or SYSTEM) when that software is later uninstalled.
Technical details
An OS command injection vulnerability (CWE-78) exists in Fleet's software installer pipeline. When software packages (such as .pkg, .deb, .rpm, .exe, or .msi) are uploaded, Fleet extracts metadata from the binaries to automatically generate uninstall scripts. This metadata is not properly sanitized before being embedded into the scripts. An attacker who can convince an administrator to upload a crafted package can achieve arbitrary command execution with root (macOS/Linux) or SYSTEM (Windows) privileges on managed endpoints when an uninstallation is triggered. The issue is resolved in version 4.81.1.
Affected products
- Fleet Device Management (fleetdm) Fleet < 4.81.1
Timeline
- 2026-05-13: advisory: GitHub Security Advisory published
- 2026-05-14: disclosed: CVE published to NVD
- 2026-03-02: patched: Version 4.81.1 released