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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2023-37466: patriksimek vm2 · Code Injection

Affects patriksimek vm2Source CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 9.8 Critical.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
9.8Critical
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
3.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 90% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 13 Jul 2023

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
npmvm2pkg:npm/vm2Other threatsAffected
  • <=3.9.19
Fixed in–

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

AI-suggested

Given the discontinued maintenance of vm2, the primary mitigation is to remove or replace vm2 with a maintained and secure sandboxing solution. Organizations should audit their codebases and dependencies to identify usage of vm2 and plan for migration to alternatives such as Node.js's built-in vm module with strict context isolation or other third-party sandbox libraries that are actively maintained. If immediate removal is not feasible, isolating the vulnerable components in restricted environments with minimal privileges and network access can reduce risk. Implementing runtime monitoring and anomaly detection to identify suspicious behavior related to sandbox escapes is also recommended. Regularly updating all dependencies and applying security best practices for Node.js applications will help reduce attack surface. Additionally, organizations should conduct thorough code reviews and penetration testing focused on sandbox environments. Finally, educating developers about the risks of using unmaintained libraries and enforcing strict dependency management policies will prevent similar issues in the future.

Description

vm2 is an advanced vm/sandbox for Node.js. The library contains critical security issues and should not be used for production. The maintenance of the project has been discontinued. In vm2 for versions up to 3.9.19, `Promise` handler sanitization can be bypassed with the `@@species` accessor property allowing attackers to escape the sandbox and run arbitrary code, potentially allowing remote code execution inside the context of vm2 sandbox.

References

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