CVE-2022-42906 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) CWE-77 vulnerability in powerline-gitstatus. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for powerline-gitstatus — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Powerline Gitstatus vulnerable to arbitrary code execution
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-42906.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-42906 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
powerline-gitstatusReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
powerline-gitstatus (aka Powerline Gitstatus) before 1.3.2 allows arbitrary code execution. git repositories can contain per-repository configuration that changes the behavior of git, including running arbitrary commands. When using powerline-gitstatus, changing to a directory automatically runs git commands in order to display information about the current repository in the prompt. If an attacker can convince a user to change their current directory to one controlled by the attacker, such as in a shared filesystem or extracted archive, powerline-gitstatus will run arbitrary commands under the attacker's control. NOTE: this is similar to CVE-2022-20001.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | powerline-gitstatus | all versions | 1.3.2pip install --upgrade 'powerline-gitstatus==1.3.2' |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for powerline-gitstatus, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update powerline-gitstatus to 1.3.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-42906 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2022-42906 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-42906. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-42906 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-42906 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.