What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-70603: Electron: shell.openPath path validation bypass via embedded null byte
- Severity: medium (CVSS 6.0 v3.1)
- Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
- EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
- Public exploit or detection template: none known
- Published: 2026-08-05 · updated 2026-10-08
- Weakness: CWE-20
Description
Electron is a framework for writing cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Prior to 39.8.6, 40.9.0, 41.1.1, and 42.0.0-beta.1, shell.openPath() did not reject paths containing embedded null bytes. Apps that perform string-only validation of file paths, for example checking the file extension, before passing them to shell.openPath() could be bypassed, allowing an attacker-controlled path to open a different file than the one that passed validation. Apps are only affected if they pass paths derived from untrusted input to shell.openPath() and rely on string-based validation without a filesystem check. This issue is fixed in versions 39.8.6, 40.9.0, 41.1.1, and 42.0.0-beta.1.
Affected products
- electron: before 39.8.6; from 40.0.0 before 40.9.0; from 41.0.0 before 41.1.1; 42.0.0-alpha1, 42.0.0-alpha2, 42.0.0-alpha3, 42.0.0-alpha4, 42.0.0-alpha5, 42.0.0-alpha6 (+1) — fixed in 39.8.6, 40.9.0, 41.1.1
How to fix
Upgrade to a fixed version: electron 39.8.6, 40.9.0, 41.1.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.
References
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