CVE-2026-10796: nvm executes commands from a malicious Node.js mirror's version strings

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 5.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2026-06-04 · updated 2026-07-22
Weakness: CWE-78

Description

nvm (Node Version Manager) through 0.40.4 executes arbitrary commands from version strings supplied by the configured Node.js/io.js mirror. Commands such as `nvm install` read the available versions from the mirror's index.tab and use the selected version, without sanitization, to build download URLs and shell/awk commands. Two sinks are affected by the same untrusted input: nvm_download() built a curl/wget command string and ran it with `eval`, so a version field containing command substitution (for example $(id)) was executed by the local shell; and nvm_get_checksum() interpolated the version-derived download slug into an awk program, so a crafted version could execute arbitrary commands via awk's system(). An attacker who controls the configured mirror, supplies mirror content to a user or CI on a non-default mirror, or machine-in-the-middles a non-TLS mirror can ∴ run arbitrary commands with the privileges of the user running nvm. The default mirror (https://nodejs.org over TLS) is not affected. Fixed on master (pending the next tagged release) by passing every argument as a literal argv element instead of using eval, by passing the value to awk as data via -v instead of interpolating it into the program, and by rejecting any version outside the Node.js/io.js version grammar before it is used.

Affected products

Openjsf Node Version Manager: before 0.40.5 — fixed in 0.40.5

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Openjsf Node Version Manager 0.40.5. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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