GHSA-38jr-29fh-w9vm is a high-severity (CVSS 7.4) OS Command Injection vulnerability in ansys-geometry-core. A fix is available for ansys-geometry-core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
ansys-geometry-core OS Command Injection vulnerability
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-38jr-29fh-w9vm.
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
GHSA-38jr-29fh-w9vm 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 377,333 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
ansys-geometry-core🐍ansys-geometry-coreReal-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
subprocess call with shell=True identified, security issue.
Code
On file src/ansys/geometry/core/connection/product_instance.py:
403 def _start_program(args: List[str], local_env: Dict[str, str]) -> subprocess.Popen:
404 """
405 Start the program where the path is the first item of the ``args`` array argument.
406
407 Parameters
408 ----------
409 args : List[str]
410 List of arguments to be passed to the program. The first list's item shall
411 be the program path.
412 local_env : Dict[str,str]
413 Environment variables to be passed to the program.
414
415 Returns
416 -------
417 subprocess.Popen
418 The subprocess object.
419 """
420 return subprocess.Popen(
421 args,
422 shell=os.name != "nt",
423 stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,
424 stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL,
425 stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
426 env=local_env,
427 )
428
429
Upon calling this method _start_program directly, users could exploit its usage to perform malicious operations on the current machine where the script is ran. With this resolution made through #1076 and #1077, we make sure that this method is only called from within the library and we are no longer enabling the shell=True option.
CWE - 78
For more information see https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/78.html
More information
Visit https://bandit.readthedocs.io/en/1.7.8/plugins/b602_subprocess_popen_with_shell_equals_true.html to find out more information.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ansys-geometry-core | ≥ 0.3.0&&< 0.3.3 | 0.3.3pip install --upgrade 'ansys-geometry-core==0.3.3' |
| 🐍PyPI | ansys-geometry-core | ≥ 0.4.0&&< 0.4.12 | 0.4.12pip install --upgrade 'ansys-geometry-core==0.4.12' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ansys-geometry-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update ansys-geometry-core to 0.3.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-38jr-29fh-w9vm 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 GHSA-38jr-29fh-w9vm can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-38jr-29fh-w9vm. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-38jr-29fh-w9vm in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-38jr-29fh-w9vm across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.