CVE-2023-39956 Electron: Out-of-package code execution when launched with arbitrary cwd
Attackers can execute arbitrary code by launching Electron apps with a controlled working directory, bypassing ASAR integrity protections.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2023-39956?
CVE-2023-39956 is a medium-severity code injection vulnerability in Electronjs Electron, published on 6 Sep 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
Electron is a framework which lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Electron apps that are launched as command line executables are impacted. Specifically this issue can only be exploited if the following conditions are met: 1. The app is launched with an attacker-controlled working directory and 2. The attacker has the ability to write files to that working directory. This makes the risk quite low, in fact normally issues of this kind are considered outside of our threat model as similar to Chromium we exclude Physically Local Attacks but given the ability for this issue to bypass certain protections like ASAR Integrity it is being treated with higher importance. This issue has been fixed in versions:`26.0.0-beta.13`, `25.4.1`, `24.7.1`, `23.3.13`, and `22.3.19`. There are no app side workarounds, users must update to a patched version of Electron.
Weakness: CWE-94
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-39956?
10 open source packages ship an affected version, including electron. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
electron npm | All versions | 22.3.19 |
electron npm | All versions | 22.3.19 |
electron npm | From 23.0.0-alpha.1 | 23.3.13 |
electron npm | From 23.0.0-alpha.1 | 23.3.13 |
electron npm | From 24.0.0-alpha.1 | 24.7.1 |
electron npm | From 24.0.0-alpha.1 | 24.7.1 |
4 more packages
electron npm | From 25.0.0-alpha.1 | 25.5.0 |
electron npm | From 25.0.0-alpha.1 | 25.5.0 |
electron npm | From 26.0.0-alpha.1 | 26.0.0-beta.13 |
electron npm | From 26.0.0-alpha.1 | 26.0.0-beta.13 |
Products include Electronjs Electron.
How do I fix CVE-2023-39956?
Upgrade electron to a fixed version for your release line: 22.3.19, 23.3.13, 24.7.1 or 25.5.0.
Upgrade, and never evaluate templates, expressions or code built from user input. More about Code injection.
Is CVE-2023-39956 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-39956 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-7x97-j373-85x5.