High severity · published Oct 20, 2026
CVE-2026-113732
virtualenv activate.fish runs commands from a path or prompt with a backslash before a quote
7.8
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
virtualenv is a tool for creating isolated virtual python environments. Prior to 21.14.2, FishActivator inherits ViaTemplateActivator.quote(), which uses POSIX shlex.quote() even though fish interprets backslashes and single quotes differently. An attacker-influenced environment path, --prompt, or VIRTUALENV_PROMPT value containing a backslash before a quote can therefore terminate the generated fish literal and execute command substitution when the user sources activate.fish. This issue is fixed in version 21.14.2.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 15% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
VI
virtualenv · pypa
< 21.14.2 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-113732
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-113732
github.com
https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/commit/3bddeaf8d02c3ee7f576503efb082f8f494cfcab
github.com
https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/releases/tag/21.14.2
github.com
https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/security/advisories/GHSA-c947-3pg5-gm8q
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