---
id: CVE-2026-113722
title: >-
  virtualenv: Generated POSIX console launchers interpret destination paths as
  shell syntax
summary: >-
  virtualenv is a tool for creating isolated virtual python environments. Prior
  to 21.14.9, virtualenv's ScriptMakerCustom and pip pass an incompletely quoted
  interpreter path to distlib ScriptMaker when generating POSIX console scripts.
  W…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-78
vendor: pypa
product: virtualenv
affected:
  - virtualenv < 21.14.9
published: '2026-10-20'
updated: '2026-10-20'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-20T19:48:29.183Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-113722'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/security/advisories/GHSA-c978-59m8-c77v'
    label: 'https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/security/advisories/GHSA-c978-59m8-c77v'
  - url: 'https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3417'
    label: 'https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/pull/3417'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/commit/2519941bed33ee0d3ac99277f67913e439e476a9
    label: >-
      https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/commit/2519941bed33ee0d3ac99277f67913e439e476a9
  - url: 'https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/releases/tag/21.14.9'
    label: 'https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/releases/tag/21.14.9'
tags:
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-10-20T20:18:14.531Z'
---

## Overview

virtualenv is a tool for creating isolated virtual python environments. Prior to 21.14.9, virtualenv's ScriptMakerCustom and pip pass an incompletely quoted interpreter path to distlib ScriptMaker when generating POSIX console scripts. When the path contains a space or produces a shebang longer than 127 bytes, distlib emits a /bin/sh wrapper whose double-quoted interpreter path still expands command substitutions and backticks. An attacker who influences the environment destination can therefore execute commands with the user's privileges when the user later runs a generated launcher; environment creation and activation do not trigger the command. Existing launchers are not repaired by upgrading virtualenv alone and must be regenerated, while a later independent pip installation or upgrade can reintroduce an affected launcher because pip's vendored distlib is unchanged. The virtualenv fix is released in version 21.14.9.

## Affected

- `virtualenv < 21.14.9`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.