Summary
nx graph dev server permissive CORS policy
The local HTTP server started by nx graph sent Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * on every response, letting any website a developer visited read the server's responses cross-origin, including the full project graph and the output of the /help endpoint, which runs a target's configured help command. The practical impact is typically cross-origin information disclosure, but can be arbitrary command injection in rare cases.
Severity
Exploitation requires the developer to be running nx graph and to visit an attacker page. Any execution beyond benign help commands also requires a malicious target to already be present in the workspace (see Details).
Affected & Patched Versions
Package: nx (npm).
- Affected:
>= 17.0.4, < 22.7.2and>= 23.0.0-beta.0, < 23.0.0-beta.2 - Patched:
22.7.2+ (backport) and23.0.0(first in23.0.0-beta.2)
The wildcard CORS header was introduced in 17.0.4; the /help execution endpoint in 19.4.0. The 21.x line is not patched, 21.x users should upgrade to 22.7.2 or later.
Details
nx graph starts a local server (default http://127.0.0.1:4211). Before the fix, its request handler set a wildcard CORS header on every response:
res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*');
The /help endpoint runs a target's configured command:
const command = target.metadata?.help?.command;
return execSync(command, { cwd: target.options?.cwd ?? workspaceRoot }).toString();
A GET /help is a CORS "simple request", so a malicious page could fetch() it with no preflight, and the wildcard header let the page read the result. This exposes the project graph (project names, file paths, dependencies, build configuration) and the output of any configured help command.
The command is not attacker-controlled through the request, it comes from the workspace's project configuration, and first-party plugins (jest, vite, cypress) populate it with benign, read-only help commands. For /help to run anything malicious, a target carrying a malicious help.command must already exist in the project graph, which can only be introduced by installing a malicious package or by altering the workspace's own code/configuration, both of which already grant code execution independent of this flaw.
The fix (#35494) removes the header; the browser's same-origin policy then blocks cross-origin reads.
References
- Fix: nrwl/nx#35494
- Introduced: nrwl/nx#20744 (CORS), nrwl/nx#26629 (
/help)
Credits
Thanks to Nozomu Sasaki (Paul) (@morimori-dev) for finding and responsibly reporting this issue.
Impact
CVE-2026-54753 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, no 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 (22.7.2, 23.0.0-beta.2); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
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. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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nx to 22.7.2 or later; nx to 23.0.0-beta.2 or later
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-54753? CVE-2026-54753 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in nx (npm), affecting versions >= 17.0.4, < 22.7.2. It is fixed in 22.7.2, 23.0.0-beta.2.
- How severe is CVE-2026-54753? CVE-2026-54753 has a CVSS score of 5.9 (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.
- Which versions of nx are affected by CVE-2026-54753? nx (npm) versions >= 17.0.4, < 22.7.2 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-54753? Yes. CVE-2026-54753 is fixed in 22.7.2, 23.0.0-beta.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-54753 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-54753 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
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-54753 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.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-54753?
- Upgrade
nxto 22.7.2 or later - Upgrade
nxto 23.0.0-beta.2 or later
- Upgrade