Description

Improper neutralization of argument delimiters in a command ('argument injection') vulnerability in TUBITAK BILGEM Software Technologies Research Institute Pardus Pen allows Argument Injection. This issue affects Pardus Pen: before 4.2.1.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "3.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-11T14:17:23.710Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-11T14:17:23.710Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Pardus Pen, developed by TUBITAK BILGEM Software Technologies Research Institute, is susceptible to an Argument Injection vulnerability, categorized under CWE-88: Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command.\nThe vulnerability allows an attacker to manipulate command-line arguments by injecting unintended flags or parameters into a command executed by the application.\nThis flaw affects all versions of Pardus Pen prior to 4.2.1.\nSuccessful exploitation can result in unauthorized command execution, potential privilege escalation, or modification of application behavior by leveraging the command-line interface.\nThe vulnerability occurs when user-supplied input is passed to a system command without sufficient validation or sanitization, allowing attackers to break out of the intended argument structure.\nExploitation generally requires the ability to influence input vectors processed by the vulnerable component. Users are urged to upgrade to version 4.2.1 or later to remediate this security risk.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability identified in Pardus Pen is rooted in the unsafe handling of external user input during the construction of system commands. Specifically, the application fails to properly neutralize argument delimiters when executing processes, a classic manifestation of CWE-88.\nIn the underlying implementation, Pardus Pen likely utilizes a system call or library function to execute command-line utilities. If the input provided by the user is directly concatenated into the command string without adequate escaping or the use of API-level argument separation (such as passing arguments as an array rather than a single string), an attacker can supply malicious characters, such as dashes, spaces, or shell-specific delimiters.\nThe attack flow begins when the application prompts for or processes user-supplied data intended for a specific command-line tool. An attacker can input specially crafted strings containing additional command flags (e.g., '--config=malicious_file' or '--execute-command'). If the system shell or the receiving application interprets these injected strings as legitimate command arguments, the attacker can force the application to perform actions beyond its intended scope.\nFor example, if the application is intended to process a filename but accepts an argument that modifies the behavior of the underlying utility, the attacker may bypass security controls, read arbitrary files, or execute binary code if the utility supports such functionality via command-line flags. Because the command is executed by the process owner, any resulting actions are performed with the privileges of the Pardus Pen application.\nAffected versions are strictly limited to those preceding 4.2.1. The vulnerability does not necessarily require network exposure if the input vector is local, though remote exploitation is possible if the vulnerable input is provided through a web interface or a networked service that interacts with the backend command execution logic. Post-exploitation impact varies depending on the specific utilities available on the host system and the permissions assigned to the user executing Pardus Pen, potentially leading to full system compromise if the utility is executed with elevated privileges or if the injected arguments permit interactive shell access."
}