GHSA-g99h-56mw-8263 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in llama-index-cli. A fix is available for llama-index-cli — see the affected versions and patch details below.
LLama-Index CLI 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-g99h-56mw-8263.
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-g99h-56mw-8263 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 379,145 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
llama-index-cliReal-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
LLama-Index CLI prior to v0.4.1, corresponding to LLama-Index prior to v0.12.21, contains an OS command injection vulnerability. The vulnerability arises from the improper handling of the --files argument, which is directly passed into os.system. An attacker who controls the content of this argument can inject and execute arbitrary shell commands. This vulnerability can be exploited locally if the attacker has control over the CLI arguments, and remotely if a web application calls the LLama-Index CLI with a user-controlled filename. This issue can lead to arbitrary code execution on the affected system.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | llama-index-cli | all versions | 0.4.1pip install --upgrade 'llama-index-cli==0.4.1' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for llama-index-cli, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update llama-index-cli to 0.4.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-g99h-56mw-8263 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-g99h-56mw-8263 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-g99h-56mw-8263. 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-g99h-56mw-8263 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-g99h-56mw-8263 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.