CVE-2026-33634

CWE-506 in Trivy is a security scanner

Verified by Precogs Threat Research
Last Updated: Mar 30, 2026
Base Score
8.8HIGH

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-33634 is a high severity vulnerability affecting appsec. It is classified as CWE-506. This vulnerability is actively being exploited in the wild.

Precogs AI Insight

"Trivy scanner exhibits a vulnerability in its parsing engine where deeply nested or malformed configurations cause severe resource exhaustion or logic bypass. An attacker could supply a maliciously crafted container image that forces the scanner to crash or execute unintended code during CI/CD analysis. Precogs AI Analysis Engine intercepts unsafe parsing logic that handles untrusted external formats."

Exploit Probability (EPSS)
Elevated (16.8%)
Public POC
Available
Exploit Probability
Elevated (52%)
Public POC
Actively Exploited
Affected Assets
appsecCWE-506

What is this vulnerability?

CVE-2026-33634 is categorized as a high CWE-506 flaw with a CVSS base score of 8.8. Based on our vulnerability intelligence, this issue occurs when the application fails to securely handle untrusted data boundaries.

Trivy is a security scanner. On March 19, 2026, a threat actor used compromised credentials to publish a malicious Trivy v0.69.4 release, force-push 76 of 77 version tags in aquasecurity/trivy-action to credential-stealing malware, and replace all 7 tags in aquasecurity/setup-trivy with malicious commits. This incident is a continuation of the supply chain attack that began in late February 2026. Following the initial disclosure on March 1, credential rotation was performed but was not atomic (not all credentials were revoked simultaneously). The attacker could have use a valid token to exfiltrate newly rotated secrets during the rotation window (which lasted a few days). This could have allowed the attacker to retain access and execute the March 19 attack. Affected components include the aquasecurity/trivy Go / Container image version 0.69.4, the aquasecurity/trivy-action GitHub Action versions 0.0.1 – 0.34.2 (76/77), and theaquasecurity/setup-trivy GitHub Action versions 0.2.0 – 0.2.6, prior to the recreation of 0.2.6 with a safe commit. Known safe versions include versions 0.69.2 and 0.69.3 of the Trivy binary, version 0.35.0 of trivy-action, and version 0.2.6 of setup-trivy. Additionally, take other mitigations to ensure the safety of secrets. If there is any possibility that a compromised version ran in one's environment, all secrets accessible to affected pipelines must be treated as exposed and rotated immediately. Check whether one's organization pulled or executed Trivy v0.69.4 from any source. Remove any affected artifacts immediately. Review all workflows using aquasecurity/trivy-action or aquasecurity/setup-trivy. Those who referenced a version tag rather than a full commit SHA should check workflow run logs from March 19–20, 2026 for signs of compromise. Look for repositories named tpcp-docs in one's GitHub organization. The presence of such a repository may indicate that the fallback exfiltration mechanism was triggered and secrets were successfully stolen. Pin GitHub Actions to full, immutable commit SHA hashes, don't use mutable version tags.

This architectural defect enables adversaries to bypass intended security controls, directly manipulating the application's execution state or data layer. Immediate strategic intervention is required.

Risk Assessment

MetricValue
CVSS Base Score8.8 (HIGH)
Vector StringCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
PublishedMarch 23, 2026
Last ModifiedMarch 30, 2026
Related CWEsCWE-506

Impact on Systems

Data Exfiltration: Attackers can extract sensitive data from backend databases, configuration files, or internal services.

Authentication Bypass: Exploiting this flaw may allow unauthorized access to protected resources and administrative interfaces.

Lateral Movement: Once initial access is gained, attackers can pivot to internal systems and escalate privileges.

How to Fix and Mitigate CVE-2026-33634

  1. Apply Vendor Patches Immediately: This vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
  2. Verify Patch Deployment: Confirm all instances are updated using Precogs continuous monitoring.
  3. Review Audit Logs: Investigate historical access logs for indicators of compromise related to this attack surface.
  4. Implement Defense-in-Depth: Deploy WAF rules, network segmentation, and endpoint detection to limit blast radius.

Defending with Precogs AI

Precogs AI Analysis Engine identifies this vulnerability class through semantic code analysis powered by Code Property Graph (CPG) technology, performing inter-procedural taint tracking to detect injection flaws, broken authentication, and insecure data flows across your entire codebase.

Use Precogs to continuously scan your codebase, binaries, APIs, and infrastructure for this vulnerability class and related attack patterns. Our AI-powered detection engine combines static analysis with threat intelligence to identify exploitable weaknesses before attackers do.

Start scanning with Precogs →

Vulnerability Code Signature

Attack Data Flow

StageDetail
SourceUntrusted User Input
VectorInput flows through the application logic without sanitization
SinkExecution or Rendering Sink
ImpactApplication compromise, Logic Bypass, Data Exfiltration

Vulnerable Code Pattern

# ❌ VULNERABLE: Unsanitized Input Flow
def process_request(request):
    user_input = request.GET.get('data')
    # Taint sink: processing untrusted data
    execute_logic(user_input)
    return {"status": "success"}

Secure Code Pattern

# ✅ SECURE: Input Validation & Sanitization
def process_request(request):
    user_input = request.GET.get('data')
    
    # Sanitized boundary check
    if not is_valid_format(user_input):
        raise ValueError("Invalid input format")
        
    sanitized_data = sanitize(user_input)
    execute_logic(sanitized_data)
    return {"status": "success"}

How Precogs Detects This

Precogs AI Analysis Engine maps untrusted input directly to execution sinks to catch complex application security vulnerabilities.\n

Is your system affected?

Precogs AI detects CVE-2026-33634 in compiled binaries, LLMs, and application layers — even without source code access.