CVE-2024-37372 is a path traversal vulnerability identified in the NodeJS runtime environment, specifically affecting the Node product across a wide range of versions from 4.0 through 22.0. The root cause lies in the permission model's handling of file system paths that begin with two backslashes (\\). The model incorrectly assumes that such paths always have a four-character prefix that can be safely ignored. However, this assumption does not hold true in all cases, leading to subtle edge cases where the path normalization and permission checks fail to properly validate the actual resource being accessed. This flaw corresponds to CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory), which typically allows attackers to escape intended directory restrictions and access unauthorized files or directories. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.0 base score of 3.6, indicating a low severity level. The vector string (AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N) reveals that exploitation requires local access (AV:L), high attack complexity (AC:H), no privileges (PR:N), and user interaction (UI:R). The impact is limited to low confidentiality and integrity loss, with no availability impact. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, and no patches have been linked yet. This vulnerability could potentially allow a local attacker who can trick a user into interacting with a maliciously crafted path to access or manipulate files outside of intended directories, but the high complexity and requirement for user interaction limit its practical exploitability.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2024-37372 is relatively limited due to its low severity and the requirement for local access combined with user interaction and high attack complexity. However, organizations that rely heavily on NodeJS for local development environments, internal tooling, or desktop applications that embed NodeJS could be at risk of unauthorized file access or modification if an attacker can convince a user to interact with a malicious path. This could lead to minor data leaks or integrity issues, particularly in environments where sensitive configuration files or credentials are stored locally. The vulnerability does not affect availability, so service disruption is unlikely. Since NodeJS is widely used in web and server environments, but this vulnerability requires local access, remote exploitation is improbable, reducing the risk for cloud or server deployments. Nonetheless, organizations with hybrid environments or developer workstations running vulnerable NodeJS versions should consider the risk. The lack of known exploits and the high complexity further reduce immediate threat levels, but the broad range of affected versions means many legacy and current systems could be exposed if not updated.

Update NodeJS to the latest version once an official patch addressing CVE-2024-37372 is released. Monitor NodeJS security advisories closely. Implement strict input validation and sanitization on any user-supplied paths, especially those that might be processed locally or passed to NodeJS-based applications. Limit local user permissions to the minimum necessary, preventing unprivileged users from accessing sensitive files or directories that could be targeted via path traversal. Educate users about the risks of interacting with unexpected file paths or links, especially those received from untrusted sources, to mitigate the requirement for user interaction exploitation. Employ application whitelisting and endpoint protection solutions that can detect and block suspicious local file system access patterns indicative of path traversal attempts. For development environments, isolate NodeJS instances and restrict access to critical files to reduce the impact of any local exploitation. Regularly audit and monitor file system access logs on critical systems to detect anomalous access patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts.