Vulnerability details
CVE-2026-53534
JabRef CAYW Sublime Text integration permits operating-system command injection
Official description
JabRef is a desktop application for managing BibTeX and BibLaTeX libraries. Prior to 6.0-alpha.6, when jabsrv or JabRef's built-in HTTP server is enabled, the GET /better-bibtex/cayw endpoint accepts an external command query parameter and CAYWQueryParams.getCommand() passes it through CAYWResource.getCitation() into PushToSublimeText.getCommandLine(). On Unix-like systems, PushToSublimeText combines this untrusted cite-command prefix and citation keys into a string executed through sh -c by ProcessBuilder without shell escaping. A client that can cause a localhost request with application=sublime can inject shell metacharacters and execute operating-system commands as the JabRef user when a valid Sublime Text command path is configured and the victim completes the CAYW selection dialog. The built-in server is disabled by default, so exploitation requires the victim to enable it or run jabsrv. This issue is fixed in version 6.0-alpha.6.
CVSS scores
| Score | Version | Source | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.5High | 4.0 | CVEProject cvelistV5 (CNA) (GitHub_M) | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| JabRef | jabref | < 6.0-alpha.6 | CVEProject cvelistV5 (CNA) |
References and advisories
4- https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/security/advisories/GHSA-m42c-cw93-p629 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/pull/15628 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/commit/b8663fe58e6c87c3927cdb4eeb1f6934d7c3f1d2 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/releases/tag/v6.0-alpha.6 x_refsource_MISC
Details
- Published
- 2026-09-18
- Last updated
- 2026-09-25
- State
- Published
- Assigner (CNA)
- GitHub_M
Exploit prediction (EPSS)
SSVC assessment (CISA)
- Automatable
- No
- Exploitation
- None
- Technical impact
- Total
Weaknesses (CWE)
- CWE-78Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')