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TI-2026-38607 Aliases CVE-2026-53534

JabRef CAYW Sublime Text integration permits operating-system command injection

Priority LOW 35CWE-78Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Active
Attack complexity
High
Attack requirements
Present
Impact type
Code execution
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-78.

Summary

JabRef is a desktop application for managing BibTeX and BibLaTeX libraries. Prior to 6.0-alpha.6, when jabsrv or JabRef's built-in HTTP server is enabled, the GET /better-bibtex/cayw endpoint accepts an external command query parameter and CAYWQueryParams.getCommand() passes it through CAYWResource.getCitation() into PushToSublimeText.getCommandLine(). On Unix-like systems, PushToSublimeText combines this untrusted cite-command prefix and citation keys into a string executed through sh -c by ProcessBuilder without shell escaping. A client that can cause a localhost request with application=sublime can inject shell metacharacters and execute operating-system commands as the JabRef user when a valid Sublime Text command path is configured and the victim completes the CAYW selection dialog. The built-in server is disabled by default, so exploitation requires the victim to enable it or run jabsrv. This issue is fixed in version 6.0-alpha.6.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00447 39th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed jabref (JabRef): 6.0-alpha.6

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
JabRefjabrefbefore 6.0-alpha.66.0-alpha.6Patch availableCNA
  • jabref VendorJabRef Affected before 6.0-alpha.6 Fixed in 6.0-alpha.6 Patch available CNA

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA jabref (JabRef) Fixed in 6.0-alpha.6

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 1 product
  • Red Hat

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-53534
  2. 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  3. 2026-11-06 CVSS score added · Red Hat

References

  • TI-2018-16005 JabRef version <=4.3.1 contains a XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 10.0

Sources