CVE-2026-70609: Electron: DevTools JavaScript Injection via Unsanitized Dock State Parameter

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.7 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% 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-94

Description

Electron is a framework for writing cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Prior to 39.8.7, 40.9.0, 41.2.0, and 42.0.0-beta.1, the mode option of webContents.openDevTools() was not sanitized before use by the DevTools frontend. If an attacker can influence this value, script under their control may run in the DevTools context, which in unsandboxed configurations has access to Node.js, including when untrusted input reaches the mode argument of openDevTools() or untrusted content calls openDevTools() on a webview it embeds. This issue is fixed in 39.8.7, 40.9.0, 41.2.0, and 42.0.0-beta.1.

Affected products

electron: before 39.8.7; from 40.0.0 before 40.9.0; from 41.0.0 before 41.2.0; 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 39.8.7, 40.9.0, 41.2.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: electron 39.8.7, 40.9.0, 41.2.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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