CVE-2026-21439
badkeys vulnerable to ASCII control character injection on console via malformed input
badkeys is a tool and library for checking cryptographic public keys for known vulnerabilities. In versions 0.0.15 and below, an attacker may inject content with ASCII control characters like vertical tabs, ANSI escape sequences, etc., that can create misleading output of the badkeys command-line tool. This impacts scanning DKIM keys (both --dkim and --dkim-dns), SSH keys (--ssh-lines mode), and filenames in various modes. This issue is fixed in version 0.0.16.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
2.0
badkeys vulnerable to ASCII control character injection on console via malformed input
badkeys is a tool and library for checking cryptographic public keys for known vulnerabilities. In versions 0.0.15 and below, an attacker may inject content with ASCII control characters like vertical tabs, ANSI escape sequences, etc., that can create misleading output of the badkeys command-line tool. This impacts scanning DKIM keys (both --dkim and --dkim-dns), SSH keys (--ssh-lines mode), and filenames in various modes. This issue is fixed in version 0.0.16.
- Record
CVE-2026-21439- CVSS 4.0
- 2.0 Low
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P - Weakness
- CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-0823
2.0
badkeys is a tool and library for checking cryptographic public keys for known vulnerabilities. In versions 0.0.15 and below, an attacker may inject content with ASCII control characters like vertical tabs, ANSI escape sequences, etc., that can create misleading output of the badkeys command-line tool. This impacts scanning DKIM keys (both --dkim and --dkim-dns), SSH keys (--ssh-lines mode), and filenames in various modes. This issue is fixed in version 0.0.16.
- Record
EUVD-2026-0823- CVSS 4.0
- 2.0 Low
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-wjpc-4f29-83h3
2.0
badkeys vulnerable to ASCII control character injection on console via malformed input
Impact
An attacker may inject content with ASCII control characters like vertical tabs, ANSI escape sequences, etc., that can create misleading output of the badkeys command-line tool. This impacts scanning DKIM keys (both --dkim and --dkim-dns), SSH keys (--ssh-lines mode), and filenames in various modes.
Patches
This has been fixed with the following commits: https://github.com/badkeys/badkeys/commit/de631f69f040974bb5fb442cdab9a1d904c64087 https://github.com/badkeys/badkeys/commit/635a2f3b1b50a895d8b09ec8629efc06189f349a
All users should upgrade badkeys to version 0.0.16.
Resources
- Record
GHSA-wjpc-4f29-83h3- CVSS 4.0
- 2.0 Low
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P - Weakness
- CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
2.0
badkeys is a tool and library for checking cryptographic public keys for known vulnerabilities. In versions 0.0.15 and below, an attacker may inject content with ASCII control characters like vertical tabs, ANSI escape sequences, etc., that can create misleading output of the badkeys command-line tool. This impacts scanning DKIM keys (both --dkim and --dkim-dns), SSH keys (--ssh-lines mode), and filenames in various modes. This issue is fixed in version 0.0.16.
- Record
CVE-2026-21439- CVSS 4.0
- 2.0 Low
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X - CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
2.0
badkeys vulnerable to ASCII control character injection on console via malformed input
badkeys is a tool and library for checking cryptographic public keys for known vulnerabilities. In versions 0.0.15 and below, an attacker may inject content with ASCII control characters like vertical tabs, ANSI escape sequences, etc., that can create misleading output of the badkeys command-line tool. This impacts scanning DKIM keys (both --dkim and --dkim-dns), SSH keys (--ssh-lines mode), and filenames in various modes. This issue is fixed in version 0.0.16.
- Record
CVE-2026-21439- CVSS 4.0
- 2.0 Low
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P - Weakness
- CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-wjpc-4f29-83h3
2.0
badkeys vulnerable to ASCII control character injection on console via malformed input
Impact
An attacker may inject content with ASCII control characters like vertical tabs, ANSI escape sequences, etc., that can create misleading output of the badkeys command-line tool. This impacts scanning DKIM keys (both --dkim and --dkim-dns), SSH keys (--ssh-lines mode), and filenames in various modes.
Patches
This has been fixed with the following commits: https://github.com/badkeys/badkeys/commit/de631f69f040974bb5fb442cdab9a1d904c64087 https://github.com/badkeys/badkeys/commit/635a2f3b1b50a895d8b09ec8629efc06189f349a
All users should upgrade badkeys to version 0.0.16.
Resources
- Record
GHSA-wjpc-4f29-83h3- CVSS 4.0
- 2.0 Low
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P - Weakness
- CWE-150
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2026-1212
2.0
badkeys vulnerable to ASCII control character injection on console via malformed input
Impact
An attacker may inject content with ASCII control characters like vertical tabs, ANSI escape sequences, etc., that can create misleading output of the badkeys command-line tool. This impacts scanning DKIM keys (both --dkim and --dkim-dns), SSH keys (--ssh-lines mode), and filenames in various modes.
Patches
This has been fixed with the following commits: https://github.com/badkeys/badkeys/commit/de631f69f040974bb5fb442cdab9a1d904c64087 https://github.com/badkeys/badkeys/commit/635a2f3b1b50a895d8b09ec8629efc06189f349a
All users should upgrade badkeys to version 0.0.16.
Resources
- Record
PYSEC-2026-1212- CVSS 4.0
- 2.0 Low
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-21439 is a low vulnerability (CVSS 2.0) in Badkeys, published January 5, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.33%, the 26th percentile. Fixed in badkeys 0.0.16.
References
github.com/badkeys/badkeys/security/advisories/GHSA-wjpc-4f29-83h3
github.com/badkeys/badkeys/issues/40
github.com/badkeys/badkeys/commit/635a2f3b1b50a895d8b09ec8629efc06189f349a
github.com/badkeys/badkeys/commit/de631f69f040974bb5fb442cdab9a1d904c64087
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-21439
github.com/advisories/GHSA-wjpc-4f29-83h3
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/21xxx/CVE-2026-21439.json
github.com/badkeys/badkeys
pypi.org/project/badkeys