dbcve.org
Code InjectionWeakness · CWE-94

CVE-2026-24516

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A command injection vulnerability exists in DigitalOcean Droplet Agent through 1.3.2. The troubleshooting actioner component (internal/troubleshooting/actioner/actioner.go) processes metadata from the metadata service endpoint and executes commands specified in the TroubleshootingAgent.Requesting array without adequate input validation. While the code validates that artifacts exist in the validInvestigationArtifacts map, it fails to sanitize the actual command content after the "command:" prefix. This allows an attacker who can control metadata responses to inject and execute arbitrary OS commands with root privileges. The attack is triggered by sending a TCP packet with specific sequence numbers to the SSH port, which causes the agent to fetch metadata from http://169.254.169.254/metadata/v1.json. The vulnerability affects the command execution flow in internal/troubleshooting/actioner/actioner.go (insufficient validation), internal/troubleshooting/command/exec.go (direct exec.CommandContext call), and internal/troubleshooting/command/command.go (command parsing without sanitization). This can lead to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, and potential lateral movement across cloud infrastructure.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Command injection vulnerability in DigitalOcean Droplet Agent through 1.3.2 where the troubleshooting actioner component processes metadata from the 169.254.169.254 endpoint and executes commands from the TroubleshootingAgent.Requesting array without sanitizing command content after the 'command:' prefix, allowing arbitrary OS command execution with root privileges.

MitigationImplement strict input validation and sanitization for all command content retrieved from metadata responses before passing to exec.CommandContext, ensuring only whitelisted commands are permitted.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify DigitalOcean Droplet Agent installation
    Identify if the DigitalOcean Droplet Agent is installed on the system by checking for the droplet-agent process, service, or binary.
    Affected if The agent is not present on the system.
  2. Check installed Droplet Agent version
    Determine the installed version of the DigitalOcean Droplet Agent by querying the service or binary version flag, then compare against the affected range (versions through 1.3.2).
    Affected if The installed version is 1.3.2 or earlier.
  3. Confirm troubleshooting actioner is enabled
    Inspect the agent configuration for the troubleshooting actioner component or TroubleshootingAgent settings to determine if this feature is active.
    Affected if The troubleshooting actioner component is enabled and processing metadata.
  4. Verify metadata endpoint accessibility
    Confirm whether the instance can reach the metadata endpoint at 169.254.169.254, as this is the source of data processed by the vulnerable component.
    Affected if The metadata endpoint is accessible and the agent is configured to use it.
  5. Inspect TroubleshootingAgent.Requesting configuration
    Review the agent configuration for any TroubleshootingAgent.Requesting array entries that specify commands to execute, as these are directly used without sanitization.
    Affected if The TroubleshootingAgent.Requesting configuration contains command entries that get executed.

A system is affected if DigitalOcean Droplet Agent version 1.3.2 or earlier is installed with the troubleshooting actioner enabled and configured to process metadata from 169.254.169.254.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement strict input validation and sanitization for all command content retrieved from metadata responses before passing to exec.CommandContext, ensuring only whitelisted commands are permitted.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

1.3.3 or later

  1. Upgrade DigitalOcean Droplet Agent to version 1.3.3 or later to remediate the command injection vulnerability
  2. After upgrading, verify the agent is running the updated version by checking the agent binary or service version
  3. Confirm that metadata service interactions no longer permit unauthenticated command execution from metadata responses

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-24516 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data