CVE-2026-54548kas is a setup tool for bitbake based projects. Prior to 5.4, internal SSH key setup triggered by SSH_PRIVATE_KEY or SSH_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE creates ~/.ssh/config when no user-specific SSH configuration exists and adds a global Host * rule containing StrictHostKeyChecking no. In kas/libcmds.py, ssh_no_host_key_check() runs without checking ctx.managed_env, so the setting persists after kas exits and affects future SSH sessions by the same local user, extending beyond the intended short-lived continuous integration environment. A later SSH connection can therefore accept an attacker-controlled host key without verification, increasing the risk of a man-in-the-middle attack that compromises session confidentiality or integrity. This issue is fixed in version 5.4.