Researchers Detail Critical RCE Flaw Reported in Popular vm2 JavaScript Sandbox

A now-patched security flaw in the vm2 JavaScript sandbox module could be abused by a remote adversary to split out of security obstacles and conduct arbitrary functions on the underlying machine.

“A danger actor can bypass the sandbox protections to acquire remote code execution rights on the host operating the sandbox,” GitHub explained in an advisory posted on September 28, 2022.

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The issue, tracked as CVE-2022-36067 and codenamed Sandbreak, carries a maximum severity ranking of 10 on the CVSS vulnerability scoring system. It has been tackled in version 3.9.11 launched on August 28, 2022.

vm2 is a well-known Node library that’s utilized to operate untrusted code with allowlisted designed-in modules. It can be also 1 of the most widely downloaded program, accounting for just about 3.5 million downloads per week.

The shortcoming is rooted in the error system in Node.js to escape the sandbox, in accordance to software security company Oxeye, which uncovered the flaw.

This signifies that effective exploitation of CVE-2022-36067 could permit an attacker to bypass the vm2 sandbox environment and operate shell instructions on the procedure hosting the sandbox.

In light-weight of the critical character of the vulnerability, end users are proposed to update to the newest version as quickly as possible to mitigate attainable threats.

“Sandboxes serve various functions in modern purposes, these types of as examining attached data files in email servers, delivering an more security layer in web browsers, or isolating actively operating apps in sure running systems,” Oxeye reported.

“Supplied the nature of the use conditions for sandboxes, it is really clear that the vm2 vulnerability can have dire outcomes for purposes that use vm2 without the need of patching.”

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