CVE-2026-53534

Name	CVE-2026-53534
Description	JabRef is a desktop application for managing BibTeX and BibLaTeX libraries. Prior to 6.0-alpha.6, when jabsrv or JabRef's built-in HTTP server is enabled, the GET /better-bibtex/cayw endpoint accepts an external command query parameter and CAYWQueryParams.getCommand() passes it through CAYWResource.getCitation() into PushToSublimeText.getCommandLine(). On Unix-like systems, PushToSublimeText combines this untrusted cite-command prefix and citation keys into a string executed through sh -c by ProcessBuilder without shell escaping. A client that can cause a localhost request with application=sublime can inject shell metacharacters and execute operating-system commands as the JabRef user when a valid Sublime Text command path is configured and the victim completes the CAYW selection dialog. The built-in server is disabled by default, so exploitation requires the victim to enable it or run jabsrv. This issue is fixed in version 6.0-alpha.6.
Source	CVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source Package	Release	Version	Status
jabref (PTS)	bookworm, trixie	3.8.2+ds-17	fixed
	forky, sid	3.8.2+ds-18	fixed

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

Package	Type	Release	Fixed Version	Urgency	Origin	Debian Bugs
jabref	source	(unstable)	(not affected)

Notes

- jabref <not-affected> (Vulnerable code introduced later)
https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/security/advisories/GHSA-m42c-cw93-p629
Fixed by: https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/commit/b8663fe58e6c87c3927cdb4eeb1f6934d7c3f1d2 (v6.0-alpha.6)
Introduced by: https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/commit/7959b1686b82a24e9fbce893c90064357f8f6b75 (v6.0-alpha.3)