GHSA-r253-r9jw-qg44

Suggest an improvement
Source
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-r253-r9jw-qg44
Import Source
https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/06/GHSA-r253-r9jw-qg44/GHSA-r253-r9jw-qg44.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/GHSA-r253-r9jw-qg44
Aliases
Published
2026-06-18T17:25:34Z
Modified
2026-07-13T07:26:27Z
Severity
  • 10.0 (Critical) CVSS_V3 - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H CVSS Calculator
Summary
Crawl4AI: Unauthenticated RCE via Chromium launch-argument injection in browser_config.extra_args
Details

Summary

The Docker API server accepted a request-supplied browser_config.extra_args, which flowed into Chromium's launch arguments. An attacker could inject Chromium switches that replace a child-process launch command (--utility-cmd-prefix, --renderer-cmd-prefix, --gpu-launcher, --browser-subprocess-path) together with --no-zygote, causing Chromium to fork/exec an attacker-controlled command as the container's runtime user. The Docker API is unauthenticated by default, so a single request yields arbitrary command execution.

The earlier extra_args SSRF patch (0.8.9) used a denylist scoped to proxy/DNS flags; a denylist of launch switches is inherently incomplete, and these command-execution switches were not covered.

Affected paths

/crawl, /crawl/stream, /crawl/job accepting a request browser_config.extra_args.

Impact

Unauthenticated remote code execution as the container runtime user; full read/write of application data, mounted secrets, environment, and tokens, and out-of-band exfiltration independent of the HTTP response.

Fix

0.9.0 establishes a trust boundary for request-supplied configuration: extra_args (along with other power fields such as proxy, user_data_dir, cdp_url, init_scripts) is a forbidden field for untrusted request bodies. Any request that sets extra_args is rejected with HTTP 400 rather than scrubbed against an always-incomplete denylist. In-process SDK callers (trusted) are unaffected.

Workarounds

  • Upgrade to the patched version (0.9.0).
  • Enable authentication (CRAWL4AI_API_TOKEN) and restrict who can reach the API.
  • Run the container with a restrictive seccomp profile and no ability to exec helper binaries.

Credits

Y4tacker - reported the --no-zygote + --utility-cmd-prefix command-injection chain with a confirmed in-container PoC and an allowlist/reject recommendation. UDU_RisePho (hoanggxyuuki) - independently reported the request-supplied Chromium launch-flag RCE class (--renderer-cmd-prefix), confirmed still reproducing on 0.8.9.

Database specific 
{
    "cwe_ids":  [
        "CWE-88",
        "CWE-94"
    ],
    "github_reviewed":  true,
    "github_reviewed_at":  "2026-06-18T17:25:34Z",
    "nvd_published_at":  null,
    "severity":  "CRITICAL"
}
References

Affected packages

PyPI / crawl4ai

Package

Name
crawl4ai
View open source insights on deps.dev
Purl
pkg:pypi/crawl4ai

Affected ranges

Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
0 Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected
Fixed
0.9.0

Affected versions

0.*
0.3.0
0.3.1
0.3.2
0.3.3
0.3.4
0.3.5
0.3.6
0.3.7
0.3.8
0.3.71
0.3.72
0.3.73
0.3.74
0.3.731
0.3.741
0.3.742
0.3.743
0.3.744
0.3.745
0.3.746
0.4.0
0.4.1
0.4.3b1
0.4.3b2
0.4.3b3
0.4.21
0.4.22
0.4.23
0.4.24
0.4.241
0.4.242
0.4.243
0.4.244
0.4.245
0.4.246
0.4.247
0.4.248b3
0.4.248
0.5.0
0.5.0.post1
0.5.0.post2
0.5.0.post3
0.5.0.post4
0.5.0.post5
0.5.0.post6
0.5.0.post7
0.5.0.post8
0.6.0rc1
0.6.0
0.6.1
0.6.2
0.6.3
0.7.0
0.7.1
0.7.2
0.7.3
0.7.4
0.7.5
0.7.6
0.7.7
0.7.8
0.8.0
0.8.5
0.8.6
0.8.7
0.8.8
0.8.9

Database specific

last_known_affected_version_range 
"<= 0.8.9"
source 
"https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/06/GHSA-r253-r9jw-qg44/GHSA-r253-r9jw-qg44.json"