CVE-2026-86063

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. Prior to 2.1.179, the Claude Code and Claude Desktop plugin installation flow runs git checkout for a marketplace-pinned commit without verifying that the resulting HEAD equals the pinned 40-character SHA. An attacker who controls a plugin repository on a Git host that permits SHA-shaped branch names can create a branch named after the reviewed commit, causing checkout to select the branch tip and install attacker-controlled plugin code. Exploitation requires a user to install the malicious plugin and pin it to the ostensibly safe hash. This issue is fixed in version 2.1.179.

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. Prior to 2.1.179, the Claude Code and Claude Desktop plugin installation flow runs git checkout for a marketplace-pinned commit without verifying that the resulting HEAD equals the pinned 40-character SHA. An attacker who controls a plugin repository on a Git host that permits SHA-shaped branch names can create a branch named after the reviewed commit, causing checkout to select the branch tip and install attacker-controlled plugin code. Exploitation requires a user to install the malicious plugin and pin it to the ostensibly safe hash. This issue is fixed in version 2.1.179.

The plugin install flow in Claude Code and Claude Desktop checked out a marketplace's pinned commit SHA using git checkout without verifying that the resulting HEAD matched the pinned SHA. An attacker controlling a plugin's upstream repository could create a branch named identically to the pinned 40-character SHA, causing the checkout to silently resolve to the attacker's branch tip instead of the reviewed commit, resulting in attacker-controlled code being installed bypassing the pinned hash. Exploitation required a user to install a malicious plugin, pin to a safe hash, and for the plugin source to be hosted on a git host that permitted SHA-shaped branch names.

Users on standard Claude Code auto-update have received this fix already. Users performing manual updates are advised to update to the latest version.

Thank you to Or Nevo Michrowski of Air Security for reporting this issue.

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. Prior to 2.1.179, the Claude Code and Claude Desktop plugin installation flow runs git checkout for a marketplace-pinned commit without verifying that the resulting HEAD equals the pinned 40-character SHA. An attacker who controls a plugin repository on a Git host that permits SHA-shaped branch names can create a branch named after the reviewed commit, causing checkout to select the branch tip and install attacker-controlled plugin code. Exploitation requires a user to install the malicious plugin and pin it to the ostensibly safe hash. This issue is fixed in version 2.1.179.

Claude Code is an agentic coding tool. Prior to 2.1.179, the Claude Code and Claude Desktop plugin installation flow runs git checkout for a marketplace-pinned commit without verifying that the resulting HEAD equals the pinned 40-character SHA. An attacker who controls a plugin repository on a Git host that permits SHA-shaped branch names can create a branch named after the reviewed commit, causing checkout to select the branch tip and install attacker-controlled plugin code. Exploitation requires a user to install the malicious plugin and pin it to the ostensibly safe hash. This issue is fixed in version 2.1.179.

The plugin install flow in Claude Code and Claude Desktop checked out a marketplace's pinned commit SHA using git checkout without verifying that the resulting HEAD matched the pinned SHA. An attacker controlling a plugin's upstream repository could create a branch named identically to the pinned 40-character SHA, causing the checkout to silently resolve to the attacker's branch tip instead of the reviewed commit, resulting in attacker-controlled code being installed bypassing the pinned hash. Exploitation required a user to install a malicious plugin, pin to a safe hash, and for the plugin source to be hosted on a git host that permitted SHA-shaped branch names.

Users on standard Claude Code auto-update have received this fix already. Users performing manual updates are advised to update to the latest version.

Thank you to Or Nevo Michrowski of Air Security for reporting this issue.