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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-70603: Electron · shell.openPath path validation bypass via embedded null byte

Affects electronSource GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-70603· Medium 6.0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.0 Medium : upgrade to 42.0.0-beta.1 when convenient.

Data as of 3 Nov 2026, 22:58 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
6.0Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none
CVSS scores by source
CNA (GitHub_M)CVSS 3.16.0
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 42.0.0-beta.1, 41.1.1, 40.9.0 +1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 5 Aug 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: 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 3 Nov 2026.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
npmelectronAffected
  • >=42.0.0-alpha.1 <42.0.0-beta.1
Fixed in
  • 42.0.0-beta.1
npmelectronAffected
  • >=41.0.0-alpha.1 <41.1.1
Fixed in
  • 41.1.1
npmelectronAffected
  • >=40.0.0-alpha.1 <40.9.0
Fixed in
  • 40.9.0
npmelectronAffected
  • <39.8.6
Fixed in
  • 39.8.6

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

AI-suggested

A fix is available in Electron versions 39.8.6, 40.9.0, 41.1.1, and 42.0.0-beta.1. Applications should upgrade to one of these versions or later. As a workaround, applications can reject any file path containing a null byte before passing it to shell.openPath(), for example by checking if the path includes '\0' and throwing an error if it does. Applications that perform filesystem checks using Node.js fs APIs before calling shell.openPath() are not affected and do not require additional mitigation.

Description

Electron's shell.openPath() function did not properly reject file paths containing embedded null bytes. This allowed attackers to bypass string-only validation checks on file paths, potentially causing the application to open a different file than intended. The issue affects apps that pass untrusted input to shell.openPath() without performing filesystem-level validation. Versions prior to 39.8.6 are vulnerable. The vulnerability has been fixed in versions 39.8.6, 40.9.0, 41.1.1, and 42.0.0-beta.1.

References

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