CVE-2023-39956

Workarounds

There are no app side workarounds, you must update to a patched version of Electron.

Fixed Versions

• 26.0.0-beta.13
• 25.5.0
• 24.7.1
• 23.3.13
• 22.3.19

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, email us at [email protected]

Apps that are launched as command line executables are impacted. E.g. if your app exposes itself in the path as myapp --help

Specifically this issue can only be exploited if the following conditions are met:

• Your app is launched with an attacker-controlled working directory
• The attacker has the ability to write files to that working directory

This makes the risk quite low, in fact normally issues of this kind are considered outside of our threat model as similar to Chromium we exclude Physically Local Attacks but given the ability for this issue to bypass certain protections like ASAR Integrity it is being treated with higher importance. Please bear this in mind when reporting similar issues in the future.

Untrusted input is evaluated as executable code within the application's runtime environment. Typical impact: arbitrary code execution within the application's privilege context.

CVE-2023-39956 has a CVSS score of 6.1 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, low privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (22.3.19, 23.3.13, 24.7.1, 25.5.0, 26.0.0-beta.13); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

1. What is CVE-2023-39956? CVE-2023-39956 is a medium-severity code injection vulnerability in electron (npm), affecting versions < 22.3.19. It is fixed in 22.3.19, 23.3.13, 24.7.1, 25.5.0, 26.0.0-beta.13. Untrusted input is evaluated as executable code within the application's runtime environment.
2. How severe is CVE-2023-39956? CVE-2023-39956 has a CVSS score of 6.1 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which versions of electron are affected by CVE-2023-39956? electron (npm) versions < 22.3.19 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2023-39956? Yes. CVE-2023-39956 is fixed in 22.3.19, 23.3.13, 24.7.1, 25.5.0, 26.0.0-beta.13. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2023-39956 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-39956 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2023-39956 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2023-39956?
   • Upgrade electron to 22.3.19 or later
   • Upgrade electron to 23.3.13 or later
   • Upgrade electron to 24.7.1 or later
   • Upgrade electron to 25.5.0 or later
   • Upgrade electron to 26.0.0-beta.13 or later