VulnerabilityPublished 6 Apr 2026Updated 8 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-21713: node

Affects nodeSource GCVE Database

Authoritative record:CVE-2026-21713· Medium 5.9

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium · fixed in 25.8.2 : update node when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 12:55 UTC

CVSS 3.0 base score

5.9Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 32% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 25.8.2, 24.14.1, 22.22.2 +1

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 30 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade node to 25.8.2, 24.14.1, 22.22.2 or 20.20.2.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Bitnaminode`pkg:bitnami/node`Other threats	Affected <20.20.2 >=21.0.0 <22.22.2 >=23.0.0 <24.14.1 >=25.0.0 <25.8.2	Fixed in 20.20.2 22.22.2 24.14.1 25.8.2

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

A patch is available for this vulnerability. Users should upgrade to fixed versions at or beyond 20.20.2, 22.22.2, 24.14.1, and 25.8.2 to remediate the issue. Applying the official updates will ensure the use of timing-safe comparison functions during HMAC verification.

Description

Node.js contains a vulnerability in its HMAC verification process where a non-constant-time comparison is used to validate user-provided signatures. This flaw can leak timing information proportional to the number of matching bytes, potentially allowing an attacker with high-resolution timing capabilities to infer HMAC values. The issue affects multiple Node.js versions across 20.x, 21.x, 22.x, 23.x, 24.x, and 25.x branches. A patch is available to address this vulnerability.

Impact

An attacker capable of making high-resolution timing measurements against the vulnerable HMAC verification function may be able to infer partial or full HMAC values by exploiting the timing leak. This could undermine the integrity guarantees provided by HMAC in affected Node.js versions. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time.

Summary

The vulnerability in Node.js (CVE-2026-21713) arises from the use of a non-constant-time comparison function during HMAC signature verification. This timing side-channel can leak information about the number of matching bytes in the signature, which under certain threat models could be exploited as a timing oracle to recover HMAC values. Node.js has timing-safe comparison primitives elsewhere, indicating this flaw is an oversight. The affected versions include <20.20.2, >=21.0.0 <22.22.2, >=23.0.0 <24.14.1, and >=25.0.0 <25.8.2. A patch is available to fix this issue.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 8 Sep 2026, 13:36 UTC

Technical details

References

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