vm2: GHSA-8hg8-63c5-gwmx patch bypass: nesting:true without explicit require still allows full RCE
- Published
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- Fix
- Fixed in 3.11.4
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
- Exploitation: poc
- Automatable: yes
- Technical impact: total
Summary
vm2 is an open source vm/sandbox for Node.js. Prior to version 3.11.4, the fix for GHSA-8hg8-63c5-gwmx (CVE-2023-37903) introduced a check in nodevm.js line 263 that blocks the combination nesting: true + require: false. However, the check uses strict equality (options.require === false), which is trivially bypassed by omitting the require option entirely. When require is not specified, options.require is undefined, not false. The strict equality check fails, so the security guard is skipped. Immediately after (line 280), the destructuring default require: requireOpts = false assigns requireOpts = false, producing the exact configuration the patch was designed to prevent. This issue has been patched in version 3.11.4.
Timeline
- CISA SSVC assessment
Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
- CVE published
- Record last updated
Affected versions
- patriksimek vm2
fixed in 3.11.4
- vm2npm
fixed in 3.11.4