Is CVE-2026-71538 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-71538 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-71538?

High severity, with a CVSS score of 4, published 17 September 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Cyclonedx-Npm < 6.0.0; @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm) < 6.0.0, SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=6.0.0.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-71538?

Yes. @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm): upgrade to 6.0.0 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-71538 attacked?

It is attacked with local access, in a software library.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-71538?

Check whether you run Cyclonedx-Npm or @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-71538: CycloneDX cyclonedx-npm shell injection in --workspace argument on Windows

Q: Which products and versions are affected?

Cyclonedx-Npm < 6.0.0; @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm) < 6.0.0, SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=6.0.0.

Q: Is there a fix for CVE-2026-71538?

Yes. @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm): upgrade to 6.0.0 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

Q: How is CVE-2026-71538 attacked?

It is attacked with local access, in a software library.

Q: Am I affected by CVE-2026-71538?

Check whether you run Cyclonedx-Npm or @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-71538 · Severity: high · CVSS 4 · Published 2026-09-17

CycloneDX cyclonedx-npm is a command-line tool used to generate software bill-of-materials (SBOM) documents from npm projects. On Windows systems, the tool is vulnerable to shell command injection when the --workspace argument is provided with specially crafted values, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the user running the tool. This could lead to data theft, system compromise, or malicious modifications to files.

Vendors: CycloneDX, npm.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-71538 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-71538 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-71538?: High severity, with a CVSS score of 4, published 17 September 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Cyclonedx-Npm < 6.0.0; @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm) < 6.0.0, SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=6.0.0.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-71538?: Yes. @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm): upgrade to 6.0.0 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-71538 attacked?: It is attacked with local access, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-71538?: Check whether you run Cyclonedx-Npm or @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

@cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm (npm): upgrade to 6.0.0 or later
```
npm install @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm@6.0.0
```

Technical details

The vulnerability is a classic OS command injection (CWE-78) in the Windows fallback execution path of @cyclonedx/cyclonedx-npm. When the CLI is invoked with a --workspace argument, the untrusted value is incorporated into a shell command without proper escaping or neutralization on Windows systems. An attacker can inject shell metacharacters (>, &, |, etc.) to break out of the intended command context and execute arbitrary OS commands. Exploitation requires the attacker to supply or influence the --workspace value passed to the CLI, typically through user input, script parameters, or configuration files. No user interaction beyond invoking the tool with a malicious workspace value is required. The fix, released in version 6.0.0, ensures workspace values are sanitized and no longer passed to the vulnerable shell execution path. Affected versions are all releases prior to 6.0.0.

Affected products

CycloneDX cyclonedx-npm < 6.0.0

Identifiers

CVE-2026-71538
GHSA-q69g-4hcv-6jg4

Timeline

2026-07-07: disclosed: Published to GitHub Advisory Database
2026-09-17: patched: Fixed in version 6.0.0

References

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