CVE-2023-44402 ASAR Integrity bypass via filetype confusion in electron
Attackers can bypass ASAR integrity checks on macOS if specific fuses are enabled and they have write access to the app bundle.
- 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-2023-44402?
CVE-2023-44402 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Electronjs Electron, published on 1 Dec 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 an open source framework for writing cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. This only impacts apps that have the `embeddedAsarIntegrityValidation` and `onlyLoadAppFromAsar` fuses enabled. Apps without these fuses enabled are not impacted. This issue is specific to macOS as these fuses are only currently supported on macOS. Specifically this issue can only be exploited if your app is launched from a filesystem the attacker has write access too. i.e. the ability to edit files inside the `.app` bundle on macOS which these fuses are supposed to protect against. There are no app side workarounds, you must update to a patched version of Electron.
Weakness: CWE-345
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-44402?
12 open source packages ship an affected version, including electron. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
electron npm | All versions | 22.3.24 |
electron npm | All versions | 22.3.24 |
electron npm | From 23.0.0-alpha.1 to 23.3.13 | None |
electron npm | From 23.0.0-alpha.1 to 23.3.13 | None |
electron npm | From 24.0.0-alpha.1 | 24.8.3 |
electron npm | From 24.0.0-alpha.1 | 24.8.3 |
6 more packages
electron npm | From 25.0.0-alpha.1 | 25.8.1 |
electron npm | From 25.0.0-alpha.1 | 25.8.1 |
electron npm | From 26.0.0-alpha.1 | 26.2.1 |
electron npm | From 26.0.0-alpha.1 | 26.2.1 |
electron npm | From 27.0.0-alpha.1 | 27.0.0-alpha.7 |
electron npm | From 27.0.0-alpha.1 | 27.0.0-alpha.7 |
Products include Electronjs Electron.
How do I fix CVE-2023-44402?
Upgrade electron to a fixed version for your release line: 22.3.24, 24.8.3, 25.8.1 or 26.2.1.
Is CVE-2023-44402 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-44402 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-7m48-wc93-9g85.