Anthropic Claude CLI/SDK Prompt Editor OS Command Injection (CVE-2026-35021)
CVE-2026-35021 Published on April 6, 2026

Anthropic Claude Code & Agent SDK OS Command Injection via promptEditor.ts
Anthropic Claude Code CLI and Claude Agent SDK contain an OS command injection vulnerability in the prompt editor invocation utility that allows attackers to execute arbitrary commands by crafting malicious file paths. Attackers can inject shell metacharacters such as $() or backtick expressions into file paths that are interpolated into shell commands executed via execSync. Although the file path is wrapped in double quotes, POSIX shell semantics (POSIX §2.2.3) do not prevent command substitution within double quotes, allowing injected expressions to be evaluated and resulting in arbitrary command execution with the privileges of the user running the CLI.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-35021 can be exploited with local system access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. Public availability of a proof of concept (POC) exploit exists for CVE-2026-35021. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
LOCAL
Attack Complexity:
LOW
Privileges Required:
NONE
User Interaction:
REQUIRED
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

What is a Shell injection Vulnerability?

The software constructs all or part of an OS command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended OS command when it is sent to a downstream component.

CVE-2026-35021 has been classified to as a Shell injection vulnerability or weakness.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-35021

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Affected Versions

Anthropic Claude Code: Anthropic Claude Agent SDK for Python:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
0.03%
Percentile
8.21%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.