Terminal2Shell: Critical flaw grants instant shell access on every major OS
terminal2shell.com
Researchers disclose a 55-year-old vulnerability affecting macOS, Windows and Linux. Exploitation is trivial and requires no special tools. No patch exists.

Terminal2Shell is a design-level vulnerability in terminal emulators. When a terminal is launched, it immediately spawns a shell process and connects it directly to the user’s keyboard. From there, the attacker can issue arbitrary commands with the full privileges of the logged-in user.

Researchers have confirmed that the shell will execute any command typed into it, including commands that delete files, install software, and modify system configuration. In some cases, the shell has been observed executing commands the user typed themselves.

Product Vector Status
macOS Terminal.app, iTerm2, Ghostty, Warp VULNERABLE
Linux gnome-terminal, Konsole, xterm, Ctrl+Alt+F2 VULNERABLE
Windows cmd.exe, PowerShell, Windows Terminal, WSL VULNERABLE
FreeBSD / OpenBSD Literally the default experience VULNERABLE
DEC VT100 (1978) Physical serial cable VULNERABLE
Your router SSH, telnet, the little console port on the back VULNERABLE
VS Code Ctrl+` (one keystroke!) VULNERABLE
Microsoft Paint None known Not affected
  • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    21 hours ago

    Several case studies exist of AI agents autonomously execution the Terminal2Shell exploit in order to alter files and run programs on accessed systems. The only solution is a trillion more dollars in investment.