zeptoclaw has Android device shell blocklist bypass via argument permutation

Description

Summary

zeptoclaw implements a blocklist to prevent dangerous commands running in android device shell, but this blocklist has several blocked commands with argements in the pattern literal, such as rm -f and rm -rf, this can be simply bypassed by using different orders for these arguments, such as rm -r -f or rm -fr etc.

Details

As in code src/tools/android/actions.rs#L413-L424, we can see the rm -f and rm -rf are hard coded and thus can be simply bypassed via rm -r -f or rm -fr etc.

pub async fn device_shell(adb: &AdbExecutor, cmd: &str) -> Result<String> {
    // Normalize whitespace for blocklist check
    let normalized: String = cmd.split_whitespace().collect::<Vec<_>>().join(" ");
    let lower = normalized.to_lowercase();

    let blocked = [
        "rm -rf",
        "rm -r",
        "reboot",
        "factory_reset",
        "wipe",
        "format",
        "dd if=",
        "mkfs",
        "flash",
        "fastboot",
    ];
    for pattern in &blocked {
        if lower.contains(pattern) {
            return Err(ZeptoError::Tool(format!(
                "Blocked dangerous command containing '{}'",
                pattern
            )));
        }
    }

PoC

Set up zeptoclaw with an Android tool and then run the command rm -f -r etc.

Impact

Unauthorized command executed in Android device.

Credit

@zpbrent

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-03-05 00:35:29 UTC
Updated
2026-03-05 00:35:31 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-03-05 00:35:29 UTC

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
7.5 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-hhjv-jq77-cmvx ↗

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

Credits

  • zpbrent (reporter)

Affected packages (1)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
rust zeptoclaw <= 0.6.1 0.6.2

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence