CVE-2026-19590: OpenAI Codex Desktop vulnerability

Should you act?

Normal patch cycle

No exploitation signal; fix it in your next routine update if you are affected. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
• EPSS 0.1%, percentile 1: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.1% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 1% of all scored CVEs (low). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Needs local access needed. Lower urgency for most teams unless an attacker could already run code on the machine.
• Editorial verdict: Patch this week. GitSpawn: Repo Git Config Runs Code in AI Coding Agents — Update your coding agents this week and never point one at a repository that arrived as files until you have read its .git/config; ordinary clones are not affected, and no attacks have been reported.

What it is

OpenAI Codex Desktop for Windows and macOS could execute attacker-controlled Git hooks because automated Git operations trusted the repository's local core.hooksPath setting. If a user opens an attacker-prepared repository whose preserved .git/config points core.hooksPath to an attacker-controlled directory, Codex can run a malicious hook while processing the repository. The hook executes outside Codex's command sandbox, without user approval, and with the user's privileges, allowing it to read, change, or delete the user's files and access other resources available to the user's account. An ordinary Git clone does not preserve the attacker-controlled repository-local configuration required for exploitation.

Weakness type: CWE-427.

Product: OpenAI Codex Desktop · Assigned by: OAI · Published: 2026-09-01

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: local access needed
• Attack complexity: low
• Privileges required: low (any account)
• User interaction: required (a user must click/open something)
• Scope: unchanged

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none, automatable no, technical impact total.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.11% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 1.

Timeline

• 2026-09-01 — CVE record published by OAI
• 2026-09-01 — erroneo.us brief: GitSpawn: Repo Git Config Runs Code in AI Coding Agents
• 2026-09-03 — CVE record last updated

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vulnerability records

1. CVE.org record CVE-2026-19590 cve.org
2. NVD entry CVE-2026-19590 nvd.nist.gov

Other references from the CVE record and advisory

1. github.com github.com

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