PrefectHQ Prefect up to 3.8.2 branch argument injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in PrefectHQ Prefect up to 3.8.2. It has been classified as critical. The impacted element is an unknown function. The manipulation of the argument branch leads to argument injection. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-72538. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in PrefectHQ Prefect up to 3.8.2. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects an unknown code block. The manipulation of the argument branch with an unknown input leads to a argument injection vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-88. The product constructs a string for a command to be executed by a separate component in another control sphere, but it does not properly delimit the intended arguments, options, or switches within that command string. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

An argument injection vulnerability in PrefectHQ Prefect through 3.8.2 allows authenticated users to achieve remote code execution via the git_clone pull step branch field. The branch parameter is passed directly to git pull without sanitization, enabling injection of arbitrary git arguments. This represents a distinct code path from the incomplete fix applied for CVE-2026-5366 and allows command execution on the Prefect server.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-72538 since 08/10/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/11/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1059 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• PrefectHQ

Name

• Prefect

Version

• 3.8.0
• 3.8.1
• 3.8.2

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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