# CVE-2024-24828: Local Privilege Escalation in execuatables bundled by pkg

> Local attackers can replace predictable native code files in a shared directory to execute malicious code when users run bundled executables.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **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:** No
- **Published:** 9 Feb 2024
- **Updated:** 22 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-22r3-9w55-cj54

## What is CVE-2024-24828?

CVE-2024-24828 is a medium-severity vulnerability in vercel pkg, published on 9 Feb 2024. 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

pkg is tool design to bundle Node.js projects into an executables. Any native code packages built by `pkg` are written to a hardcoded directory. On unix systems, this is `/tmp/pkg/*` which is a shared directory for all users on the same local system. There is no uniqueness to the package names within this directory, they are predictable. An attacker who has access to the same local system has the ability to replace the genuine executables in the shared directory with malicious executables of the same name. A user may then run the malicious executable without realising it has been modified. This package is deprecated. Therefore, there will not be a patch provided for this vulnerability. To check if your executable build by pkg depends on native code and is vulnerable, run the executable and check if `/tmp/pkg/` was created. Users should transition to actively maintained alternatives. We would recommend investigating Node.js 21’s support for single executable applications. Given the decision to deprecate the pkg package, there are no official workarounds or remediations provided by our team. Users should prioritize migrating to other packages that offer similar functionality with enhanced security.

Weakness: CWE-276 (Incorrect Default Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-24828?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including pkg. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `pkg` | npm | All versions to 5.8.1 | None |
| `pkg` | npm | All versions to 5.8.1 | None |

Products: Vercel Pkg.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-24828?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-24828 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-24828 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-24828 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-24828 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-24828 is a medium-severity vulnerability in vercel pkg, published on 9 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-24828 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- pkg (npm): affected all versions up to 5.8.1; no fix listed
- pkg (npm): affected all versions up to 5.8.1; no fix listed

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-24828/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-24828/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-24828
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-24828
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-24828

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-24828/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.