Executive brief
Zed is a high-performance code editor used by developers to write and manage software. A vulnerability in how the editor handles remote connections (via SSH or WSL) allows a malicious project to execute unauthorized commands on a user's computer or remote server. If a user opens a project containing a specially crafted settings file, an attacker could gain full access to the user's files and account on that system.
Technical details
An OS command injection vulnerability exists in Zed's SSH and WSL remote command builders. When establishing a remote session, Zed constructs a shell command string using 'exec env' but fails to quote or validate environment variable keys (though it does quote the values). An attacker can exploit this by placing a malicious '.zed/settings.json' file in a repository that defines a terminal environment key containing shell expansions, such as '$(command)'. When a victim opens the project and launches a terminal, the remote shell evaluates the expansion, leading to arbitrary code execution under the victim's account. The issue is fixed in version 0.227.1 by implementing strict validation for environment variable keys.
Affected products
- Zed Industries Zed < 0.227.1
Timeline
- 2026-05-08: disclosed: Vulnerability reported to Zed team via GitHub Advisory
- 2026-05-28: advisory: CVE-2026-44461 published
- 2026-05-28: patched: Fixed in version 0.227.1