CVE-2023-23623 Content-Secrity-Policy disabling eval not applied consistently in renderers with sandbox disabled in Electron
Electron fails to enforce Content-Security-Policy restrictions on eval in unsandboxed renderers, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code if sandboxing is disabled.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-23623?
CVE-2023-23623 is a high-severity vulnerability in Electronjs Electron, published on 6 Sep 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Electron is a framework which lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. A Content-Security-Policy that disables eval, specifically setting a `script-src` directive and _not_ providing `unsafe-eval` in that directive, is not respected in renderers that have sandbox disabled. i.e. `sandbox: false` in the `webPreferences` object. This allows usage of methods like `eval()` and `new Function` unexpectedly which can result in an expanded attack surface. This issue only ever affected the 22 and 23 major versions of Electron and has been fixed in the latest versions of those release lines. Specifically, these versions contain the fixes: 22.0.1 and 23.0.0-alpha.2 We recommend all apps upgrade to the latest stable version of Electron. If upgrading isn't possible, this issue can be addressed without upgrading by enabling `sandbox: true` on all renderers.
Weakness: CWE-670
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-23623?
4 open source packages ship an affected version, including electron. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
electron npm | From 22.0.0-beta.1 | 22.0.1 |
electron npm | From 22.0.0-beta.1 | 22.0.1 |
electron npm | From 23.0.0-alpha.1 | 23.0.0-alpha.2 |
electron npm | From 23.0.0-alpha.1 | 23.0.0-alpha.2 |
Products include Electronjs Electron.
How do I fix CVE-2023-23623?
Upgrade electron to a fixed version for your release line: 22.0.1 or 23.0.0-alpha.2.
Is CVE-2023-23623 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-23623 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Electronjs Electron
- CVE-2017-16151 Chromium Remote Code Execution in electron
- CVE-2018-1000118 Electron protocol handler browser vulnerable to Command Injection
- CVE-2026-34780 Electron: Context Isolation bypass via contextBridge VideoFrame transfer
- CVE-2026-102676 Electron: <webview> can enable Node.js integration in Web Workers despite embedder restrictions
- CVE-2026-102673 Electron drops inherited HTML sandbox restrictions for popups opened through OpenURLFromTab
Sources
Also known as GHSA-gxh7-wv9q-fwfr.