Continue CLI through 1.5.47 Incomplete Destructive Command Denylist in Headless and Auto Mode
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · High · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
The Continue CLI applies an incomplete denylist as its only barrier to destructive shell commands when running unattended. In headless mode and auto mode the default policy in extensions/cli/src/permissions/defaultPolicies.ts grants the Bash tool the allow permission, and permissionChecker.ts hard-blocks a command only when the terminal-security evaluator returns a disabled verdict, so isCriticalCommand in packages/terminal-security/src/evaluateTerminalCommandSecurity.ts is the sole control. Its dangerous-path test matches only /, /*, ~, ~/*, /usr, /etc, /bin and /sbin and their prefixes, so a recursive forced removal of /home, /root, /var, /opt or /srv is not disabled. The command line is parsed with shell-quote, which reduces $HOME to an empty token, so rm -rf $HOME also fails the dangerous-path test while the shell re-expands the variable when the command is spawned. find with -delete is rated high risk rather than disabled, and shred, wipefs, truncate and pkexec are not handled. Because the agent autonomously reads content it does not control, including fetched web pages, repository files and issue text, an indirect prompt injection in that content can cause an unattended run to destroy the invoking user's data.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- 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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| continuedev | continue | up to 1.5.47 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- continue Vendorcontinuedev Affected up to 1.5.47 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-76072
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-xqr4-4xjv-5j7q
References
More continuedev vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-71290 Continue CLI permission bypass lets attackers run unapproved commands CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.7
- TI-2026-80242 OS command injection in continuedev Continue MCP server transport CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.3
Sources
- CVE-2026-76072 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-76072 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-xqr4-4xjv-5j7q · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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